NEW  GRANADA 


AND  THE 


UNITED  STATES  OE  AMERICA. 


ZEPIILT  _A.Xj 


DIPLOMATIC  CONTROVERSY 


DELATING  TO 


©mtrrwtcs  tfuit  took  plate  at  auawa 


ON  THE  15th  OE  APRIL,  1856. 


LIVERPOOL : 

RE-PRINTED  AT  THE  MAIL  OFFICE,  LIVER  COURT,  SOUTH  CASTLE  STREET. 


3 


The  following  pages  contain  a  verbatim  Reprint  of  a 
State  Paper  recently  issued  by  the  Government  of  New 
Granada,  entitled  u  New  Granada  and  the  United 
“  States  of  America  —  Final  Diplomatic  Controversy 
“  relating  to  the  occurrences  that  took  place  at  Panama 
“  on  the  15th  of  April,  1856.”  The  original  is  trebly  set 
forth — in  the  Spanish,  French,  and  English  languages  : 
the  English  version  has  been  faithfully  adhered  to. 

As  it  relates  to  my  native  country,  whose  prosperity 
and  whose  honour  is  still  dear  to  my  heart,  although 
I  have  been  a  naturalised  British  subject  and  engaged 
in  mercantile  affairs  for  many  years  past  in  England,  I 
believe  I  cannot  render  a  more  dutiful  service  than  to 
send  forth  this  important  document,  and  without  note 
or  comment.  It  speaks  for  itself,  trumpet-tongued. 

I  would  only  add  that,  although  having  the  honour 
to  hold  the  office  of  Consul  for  New  Granada  at 
Liverpool,  I  send  forth  this  pamphlet  entirely  on  my 
private  responsibility,  without  any  promptings  from  the 
Government  of  New  Granada,  or  from  any  other  State 
or  individual  whatever.  And  I  do  this  as  an  individual 
merchant,  and  in  nowise  in  my  official  capacity. 

LTJIS^  S'“MAKIA. 


PROPOSITION  S 


Handed  ey  Messrs.  Morse  and  Bowlin,  as  Plenipotentiaries  of  the 
Government  op  the  United  States,  to  the  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  on  the  4th  of  February,  1857. 

PROPOSITION  FIRST. 

“  To  erect  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Aspinwall  (Colon) 
into  two  municipalities  independent  and  neutral  to  govern 
themselves,  with  a  territory  ten  miles  wide  on  each  side  of 
the  Railroad. — The  perfect  freedom  of  the  transit  route. — 
Neutrality  and  freedom  guaranteed,  sovereignty  unchanged. 
— Other  nations  to  be  invited  into  the  guarantees.” 

ARGUMENT. 

By  this  proposition  New  Granada  retains  the 
sovereignty  over  the  territory,  only  consenting  to  the 
creation  of  municipalities  with  limited  attributes  of 
sovereignty,  similar  to  States  in  a  federal  compact. 

By  it,  she  releases  herself  from  her  obligation  to 
protect  the  Railroad  route,  which  can  only  be  done  at 
considerable  expense. 

She  secures  her  own  free  use  at  all  times  over  the  route 
as  perfect  as  she  now  enjoys  it. 

This  arrangement  is  similar  to  the  one  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  in  relation  to  the  free 
municipalities  of  Greytown  on  the  Nicaragua  route — and 
the  late  arrangement  of  the  Bay  Islands. 

By  this  arrangement  New  Granada  loses  nothing,  not 
even  fancied  honour,  whilst  she  gains — an  exemption  from 
an  onerous  duty  of  protecting  the  route — exemption  from 
all  liability  for  damages  for  invasions  of  the  right  of 
transit — and  secures  permanent  aid  in  defence  of  the 
integrity  of  that  part  of  her  territory  from  invasion  at  all 
times. 

PROPOSITION  SECOND. 

“  To  transfer  to  the  States  the  two  little  clusters  of 
Islands  in  the  Bay  of  Panama  in  full  sovereignty,  for  a 

B 


4 


naval  station,  and  all  reserved  rights  and  privileges  in  the 
Panama  Railroad  charter,  for  an  ample  consideration.” 

The  object  of  this  second  proposition  is,  first : — to 
establish  a  Navy-yard  in  the  Bay  of  Panama.  This  would 
be  nearly  of  as  much  benefit  to  New  Granada  as  to  the 
United  States  :  it  wTould  greatly  enhance  the  security  of 
the  Isthmus  route  from  invasion  or  outbreak — and  tend  to 
relieve  New  Granada  from  the  necessity  of  defending  it, 
as  it  would  keep  resources  always  at  hand.  It  would  open 
a  splendid  market  to  the  productions  of  the  Isthmus,  and 
encourage  trade  and  commerce  to  Granadian  territory. 

Besides,  the  United  States  would  get  nothing  by  the 
purchase  but  the  sovereignty,  as  the  property  is  now  held 
by  individuals  and  chiefly  by  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
such  an  establishment,  drawing  around  it  as  a  common 
centre  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific,  could,  it  is  believed, 
have  no  other  tendency  than  to  enhance  the  wealth  and 
glory  of  New  Granada. 

The  transfer  of  the  railroad  privileges,  it  is  believed, 
carries  wdth  it  but  little  of  profit.  For  whilst  it  yields 
under  the  contract  some  forty  or  fifty  thousand  dollars 
annually,  yet  the  corresponding  obligation  to  protect  it, 
would,  if  properly  executed,  cost  nearly  as  much,  if  not 
quite  as  much  as  the  income,  and  the  obligations  are 
mutual.  The  revenue  cannot  be  exacted  without  the  pro¬ 
tection  afforded.  By  this  transfer  New  Granada  releases 
herself  for  ever  from  this  obligation,  whilst  she  would 
realise  in  the  consideration  the  full  value  of  her  income,  and 
even  much  more. 

PROPOSITION  THIRD. 

“To  pay  the  damages  occasioned  by  the  late  Panama 
riot.” 

This  question  needs  no  discussion.  The  liability  of 
New  Granada  is  a  fixed  fact ;  she  was  not  only  bound  to 
protect  the  route,  which  would  have  fixed  her  liability, — 
but  her  own  citizens,  headed  by  officials,  perpetrated  the 


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outrage,  which  doubly  fixes  liability  upon  her. — As  to  the 
amount,  the  United  States  has  fully  investigated  that 
matter  and  fixed  it. — Whilst  New  Granada  has  not  only 
not  investigated,  but  refused  to  lend  the  aid  of  her  legal 
process  to  bring  up  witnesses  in  aid  of  such  investigation, 
and  can  now  raise  no  question  as  to  the  result.  The 
evidence,  though  not  as  complete  as  it  might  have  been 
could  we  have  had  process  to  bring  up  unwilling  witnesses, 
is  yet  ample  to  show  the  destruction  of  life  and  robbery  of 
property  to  the  amount  claimed.  At  all  events,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  have  spared  no  pains  to 
ascertain  the  facts  and  have  settled  it,  and  that  is  no  longer 
an  open  question,  and  New  Granada  cannot  complain — as 
the  authorities  of  Panama,  instead  of  aiding  to  solicit  the 
facts  threw  every  possible  obstacle  in  the  way,  and  what 
we  have  been  able  to  obtain  against  their  resistance  must 
be  the  basis  of  the  decision. 

PROPOSITION  FOURTH. 

“  The  sum  to  be  paid  by  the  United  States.” 

The  sum  is  liberal,  very  far  above  the  value,  real  or 
imaginary,  of  the  property  conferred.  For  the  sake  of  a 
settlement  to  secure  peace  and  harmony,  the  United  States 
are  willing  to  pay  many  times  the  real  value  of  the  things 
obtained. 


THE  “PROJET” 

TENDERED  IN  THE  SAME  CONFERENCE. 

Convention  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  the  Republic 
of  New  Granada,  for  the  Adjustment  of  Claims  of  Citizens  of  the 
United  States,  and  for  Settling  other  Differences  between  the 

Parties. 

Whereas,  by  the  35th  article  of  the  treaty  of  peace, 
amity,  navigation,  and  commerce  between  the  high  con¬ 
tracting  parties,  concluded  on  12th  of  December,  1846, 
and  ratified  and  exchanged  on  10th  of  June,  1848,  a  right 
of  way  or  transit  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  within  the 
b  2 


6 


t 


territory  of  New  Granada,  was  granted  to  the  United 
States,  and  the  citizens  thereof,  and  certain  rights  and 
privileges  were  by  that,  and  other  articles  of  the  said 
treaty,  conferred  on  the  government  and  people  of  the 
United  States,  in  relation  to  the  said  right  of  way  or 
transit : 

And,  Whereas,  a  certain  Company,  denominated  the 
Panama  Railroad  Company,  mainly  consisting  of  American 
citizens,  have,  with  a  view  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  so  conferred,  and  pursuant  to  a  charter 
granted  to  said  Company  by  the  Republic  of  New  Granada, 
constructed  a  Railroad  across  the  said  Isthmus  : 

And,  Whereas,  it  is  for  the  mutual  interest  of  the  high 
contracting  parties  that  this  Railroad,  or  any  other  inter- 
oceanic  communication  which  may  be  constructed  within 
the  limits  of  New  Granada,  should  be  secured  from  inter¬ 
ruption  and  rendered  safe  for  all  persons  and  property 
passing  or  designed  to  pass  over  the  same  : 

The  high  contracting  parties  do,  for  the  purposes  afore¬ 
said,  enter  into  the  following  stipulations  : — The  President 
of  the  United  States  having,  for  this  object,  conferred  full 
powers  on  Isaac  E.  Morse,  Esquire,  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  James  B.  Bowlin,  Esquire,  the 
Minister  resident  of  the  said  United  States  accredited  to  the 
Republic  of  New  Granada  ;  and  the  President  of  New 
Granada  having  conferred  similar  powers  on 

who  have  exchanged  their  said  powers, 
which  wTere  found  to  be  in  due  form. 

Article  I. 

It  is  hereby  agreed  that  New  Granada  shall  constitute 
and  declare  : 

(First)  That  the  port  of  Colon,  otherwise  called  Aspin- 
wall,  and  the  port  of  Panama,  shall  be  free  ports. 

(Second)  That  a  district  of  country,  twenty  English 
miles  in  width,  bounded  on  the  north  and  south  running 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  ocean  in  the  general  direc- 


7 


tion  equidistant,  or  as  nearly  so  as  practicable,  from  the 
present  line  of  the  Panama  Railroad,  and  including  within 
the  same  the  ports  and  cities  of  Aspinwall  (Colon)  and 
Panama,  shall  be  under  the  exclusive  municipal  jurisdiction 
of  the  inhabitants  residing  therein,  New  Granada  still 
retaining  the  sovereignty  over  the  same,  to  be  exercised 
in  any  manner  not  inconsistent  with  the  municipal 
jurisdiction  and  power  herein  conceded  to  the  residents  of 
said  district. 

(Third)  That  there  shall  be  two  municipalities  estab¬ 
lished  within  the  said  district,  one  including  Panama, 
and  the  other  Colon,  otherwise  called  Aspinwall,  and  the 
jurisdiction  of  each  shall  extend  to  a  line  drawn  across  the 
said  district  at  a  distance  midway  between  the  two  cities, 
or  as  nearly  so  as  may  be,  and  the  inhabitants  of  each  shall 
have  the  following  rights  and  privileges,  subject  to  the 
specified  restrictions : 

(A)  The  right  to  govern  themselves  by  means  of  their 

own  municipal  government,  to  be  administered  by  legisla¬ 
tive,  executive,  and  judicial  officers,  elected  according  to 
their  own  regulations.  The  right  to  vote  at  all  elections 
shall  be  confined  to  freeholders  and  residents  owning 
personal  property  to  the  amount  of . 

(B)  Trial  by  jury  in  their  own  Courts. 

(C)  Perfect  freedom  of  religious  belief  and  of  worship 
public  and  private. 

(D)  Neither  of  the  said  municipal  governments  shall 
lay  any  duties  on  goods  exported,  nor  on  goods  imported 
for  transit  across  the  Isthmus  or  for  consumption  beyond 
the  limits  of  their  respective  territories,  nor  any  duty  of 
tonnage  on  vessels  except  such  as  may  be  necessary  for  the 
police  of  the  ports,  and  the  maintenance  of  lighthouses 
and  beacons  ;  nothing  herein  contained  shall  impair  or 
abridge  the  right  of  the  municipal  authority  of  the  said 
governments  to  levy  taxes  by  the  ordinary  mode  of 
taxation  on  the  real  and  personal  property  of  the 
inhabitants,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  necessary  sums 


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for  defraying  the  expenses  incident  on  the  due  administra¬ 
tion  of  public  affairs  in  all  branches  thereof. 

(E)  Exemption  from  military  service,  except  for  the 
defence  of  either  of  the  territories  aforesaid. 

(F ourth)  That  each  of  the  said  municipalities  shall  enact 
suitable  laws  for  the  protection  of  the  said  Panama  Kail- 
road  or  any  other  transit  way  across  the  Isthmus,  for  the 
security  of  persons  engaged  upon  the  said  road  or  way, 
and  of  the  passengers  and  all  property  passing  or  intended 
to  be  transported  over  the  said  road ;  and  shall  cause  the 
same  to  be  duly  executed. 

(Fifth)  That  whenever  it  shall  be  deemed  necessary, 
and  the  Panama  Kailroad  Company  or  its  agents  shall 
make  application  to  the  United  States  Consul  at  Aspinwall 
(Colon)  or  Panama  for  that  purpose,  such  Consul  shall 
require  of  the  mayor  or  chief  magistrate  of  either  city,  a 
police  force  for  the  protection  of  the  Panama  Kailroad, 
or  any  other  route  of  travel  and  transportation  across  the 
Isthmus  within  the  district  aforesaid,  or  for  the  security  of 
passengers  or  property  passing  or  intended  to  be  passed 
over  the  said  road  or  route,  or  for  the  prevention  or  removal 
of  any  interruption  of  the  said  road  or  route,  the  said  mayor 
or  chief  magistrate  shall  promptly  furnish  the  same.  In 
case  the  mayor  or  chief  magistrate  shall  refuse  or  neglect 
to  furnish  such  force  at  the  request  of  the  Consul,  the 
Consul  shall  then  have  authority  to  make  a  direct  call  on 
the  said  police,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  obey  such  call ; 
and  in  case  such  call  is  not  complied  with,  the  Consul  may 
organize  and  take  charge  of  a  temporary  police  force,  and 
those  composing  it  shall  have  the  same  protection  for  their 
acts,  as  the  regular  police  force  are  entitled  to.  The  said 
police,  while  upon  duty  for  that  purpose,  shall  be  subject 
to  the  orders  of  the  United  States  Consul  requiring  the 
same;  and  shall  be  kept  in  service  so  long  as  he  shall 
determine  such  force  to  be  necessary,  and  the  whole  force, 
or  any  persons  belonging  to  it,  shall  be  duly  discharged 
when  the  said  Consul  shall  request  the  same  to  be  done  ; 


9 


the  civil  authorities  of  the  municipalities  shall  in  no  way 
embarrass  or  interfere  with  the  action  of  the  said  police 
force,  while  executing  the  orders  of  the  said  Consul,  for 
the  protection  and  security  aforesaid ;  but  shall  lend  their 
aid  and  assistance,  if  need  be,  to  render  the  police  force 
efficient  for  that  purpose.  In  order  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  such  police  force  when  so  called  out,  the  United  States 
Consuls  at  Aspinwall  (Colon)  and  Panama,  shall  have 
authority  to  make  an  assessment  or  to  levy  and  collect 
taxes  to  the  amount  needed  for  that  purpose,  upon  the 
Railroad  and  upon  the  passengers  and  property  passing  over 
the  Railroad  or  route  ;  but  no  taxes,  assessments  or  duties 
shall  be  levied  by  the  municipal  authorities  at  Aspinwall 
(Colon)  or  Panama,  upon  the  Railroad  passengers  or  their 
property,  or  foreign  mails,  or  any  articles  of  merchandise 
passing  over  the  said  road ;  nothing,  however,  herein  con¬ 
tained,  shall  exempt  the  said  Railroad  from  such  payments 
to  the  Republic  of  New  Granada  or  its  assignees,  as  it  is 
now  under  obligations  to  pay,  by  its  charter  and  engage¬ 
ments  with  that  Republic.  But  this  restriction  is  not  to 
apply  to  any  tax  levied  by  direction  or  authority  of  the 
United  States  Consuls,  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  police, 
which  may  be  called  out  to  protect  the  Railroad  passengers 
and  property  transported  over  the  same. 

(Sixth)  That  in  case  the  route  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  within  the  district  aforesaid,  shall  be  interrupted 
or  shall  be  seriously  threatened  with  obstruction  or  inter¬ 
ruption,  by  a  force  or  a  power,  which  is  likely  to  be  too 
formidable  to  be  put  down  by  the  police  force  which  may 
be  called  out  for  that  purpose,  as  herein  provided,  then  the 
naval  force  of  the  United  States,  which  may  be  in  or  near 
either  of  the  harbours,  at  the  extremities  of  said  road  or 
route,  may  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  protecting,  keeping 
open,  and  securing  a  free  and  safe  passage  over  the  said 
road,  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  may  also, 
if  it  should  deem  it  necessary,  send  for  the  same  purpose 
into  the  said  district,  or  any  part  of  it,  or  organise  therein 


10 


a  military  force ;  but  whenever  the  exigency  which  may 
have  led  to  the  employment  of  the  naval  or  military  force 
of  the  United  States  shall  cease,  the  same  shall  be  with¬ 
drawn  from  the  said  territory. 

The  high  contracting  parties  shall  each  appoint,  within 
three  months  after  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  this 
Convention,  a  Commissioner,  and  the  two  Commissioners 
shall  immediately  proceed  to  establish  and  mark  the  lines 
of  the  said  district,  and  shall  devise  a  mode  for  organizing 
the  municipalities,  and  make  needful  regulations  for 
executing  the  same. 

The  high  contracting  parties  hereby  agree  to  respect 
the  municipal  governments  hereby  authorized  to  be  estab¬ 
lished,  and  not  to  interfere,  in  any  way,  with  the  exercise 
of  any  of  the  powers  granted  or  privileges  conceded  to  the 
same,  but  will  maintain  with  them  friendly  relations. 

Should  either  party,  at  any  time,  encroach  upon  the 
rights  and  privileges  hereby  granted  and  conceded,  the 
other  party  may  at  its  discretion,  and  in  any  way  it  may 
deem  proper,  aid  the  said  municipal  governments,  or  either 
of  them,  in  resisting  such  encroachments.  Should  any 
foreign  power  invade  the  territories  of  the  said  municipal 
governments,  or  interfere  with  their  rights  and  privileges, 
either  party  to  this  Convention  may  assist  these  govern¬ 
ments  in  defence  of  their  territory  and  municipal  rights. 

Article  II. 

And  it  is  expressly  agreed,  by  the  high  contracting 
parties,  that  nothing  contained  in  the  foregoing  article, 
shall  give  to,  or  confer  upon,  the  people  of  the  before 
described  district  or  either  of  the  municipalities  therein 
authorized,  any  of  the  rights,  powers,  or  privileges  reserved 
by  the  Republic  of  New  Granada  to  itself,  by  the  charter 
granted  to  the  Panama  Railroad  Company,  or  by  any 
contract  made  with  the  said  company ;  and  that  neither 
the  said  people  nor  the  municipalities  shall  have  any  control 
or  jurisdiction  over  that  road  or  any  other  interoceanic 


11 


communication  that  may  be  made  in  or  through  that 
district ;  and  New  Granada,  for  the  considerations  herein 
after  mentioned,  does  hereby  transfer  and  assign  to  the 
United  States,  all  the  rights,  title,  interest  and  control 
which  she  has  by  charter,  contract,  or  in  any  other  manner, 
into  and  over  the  said  Panama  railroad,  with  full  power 
and  authority  to  receive  for  their  own  use  all  sums  of 
money  or  compensation,  stipulated  to  be  paid  by  the  said 
Railroad  Company,  for  the  privileges  or  for  the  right  of 
transit,  conferred  by  the  charter  granted  to  or  any  contract 
made  with  the  said  Panama  Railroad  Company ;  and  the 
United  States  are  authorized  and  empowered  to  exact  and 
enforce  all  the  obligations  which  the  said  Panama  Railroad 
Company  has  contracted  with  New  Granada :  and  it  is 
hereby  furthermore  stipulated,  that  the  United  States 
shall  have  and  enjoy  in  regard  to  the  said  Railroad  Com¬ 
pany,  all  the  rights  and  authority  in  and  over  the  said  road, 
that  New  Granada  has  at  any  time  had  and  enjoyed,  and 
that  they  shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to  alter, 
modify,  or  extend  the  charter  of  the  said  Panama  Railroad 
Company,  and  to  make  any  agreement  with  it,  in  relation 
to  the  use  of  the  said  road ;  and  they  shall  also  have  a  full 
and  exclusive  power  to  grant  any  charter  or  to  make  any 
provision  for  the  construction  of  any  other  railroad  or 
passage  way  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  within  the 
district  of  country  mentioned  in  the  next  preceding  article, 
on  such  terms  as  they  may  deem  proper. 

Article  III. 

if,  unhappily,  the  high  contracting  parties  shall  be 
engaged  in  war  with  each  other,  they  do  hereby  mutually 
agree  that  the  district  of  country  before  described  shall 
be  neutral  territory ;  and  neither  party  shall  occupy  the 
same  for  belligerent  purposes  (reserving  the  right  of  either 
to  pass  over  it),  nor  shall  either  solicit  or  accept  the 
services  or  aid  of  the  said  municipalities  in  the  said  war, 
but  they  shall  remain  neutral,  neither  shall  either  in  any 


12 


way  interrupt  tlie  transit  within  the  district  aforesaid,  or 
obstruct  or  interfere  with  the  ordinary  operations  of 
business  on  the  said  road,  but  the  governments  and  citizens 
of  each  of  the  high  contracting  parties,  respectively,  shall 
have  the  same  use  of  the  road,  during  any  such  war,  and 
the  same  security  for  their  persons  and  property,  on  the 
said  road,  and  within  the  district  aforesaid,  as  if  the  said 
parties  were  at  peace. 


Article  IV. 

It  is  hereby  agreed  that  both  parties  shall  have  the 
free  use  of  the  Panama  Railroad  Company  ( sic ),  or  any 
other  means  of  passage  across  the  Isthmus,  within  the  said 
district ;  but  the  said  road  or  route  shall  be  open  to  the 
common  use  of  all  nations  which  shall,  by  treaty  stipula¬ 
tions,  agree  to  regard  and  treat  the  district  of  country 
aforesaid  at  all  times  as  neutral,  and  to  respect  the  muni¬ 
cipal  authorities  therein  established ;  and  all  such  nations 
shall  have  the  use  of  said  road  or  route  to  be  established 
within  the  said  district,  upon  fair  and  reasonable  terms  ; 
and  they  do  further  agree  to  invite  foreign  nations  to  join 
in  the  mutual  guarantee  of  the  neutrality  of  the  said 
country  of  the  municipal  governments  aforesaid,  and  of 
the  unobstructed  use  of  the  said  Panama  Railroad,  or  any 
other  road  which  may  be  established  across  the  Isthmus, 
within  the  limits  of  the  territory  before  designated. 

Article  V. 

New  Granada  hereby  stipulates  and  agrees  to  pay,  in 
the  manner  hereinafter  provided,  to  the  United  States 
the  sum  of  dolrs.  to  be  applied  by  the  said  United 
States,  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  those  of  their  citizens  who 
suffered  bodily  injuries  in  the  riot  at  Panama  on  the  15th 
of  April  last  ;  to  indemnify  those  citizens  who  had  their 
property  taken  from  them  or  destroyed  in  that  riot, 
including  damages  to  the  Railroad  Company,  and  its 
property  ;  and  to  make  suitable  provision  for  the  families 


13 


of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  were  killed  on 
that  occasion.  On  the  payment  of  the  above  sum  of 
dols.  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  by  the  Government 
of  New  Granada,  the  United  States  releases  it  from  all 
further  claim  or  demand  on  that  account. 

Article  VI. 

In  order  to  protect  and  render  secure  the  transportation 
of  persons  and  property  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
and  for  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  advantages  of  that 
interoceanic  communication  to  the  government  and  people 
of  the  United  States,  it  is  important  that  there  should  be 
a  safe  and  commodious  harbour  for  merchant  vessels  and 
national  ships,  near  the  termination  of  communication  on 
the  Pacific. — New  Granada  does  for  that  purpose  cede  to 
the  United  States  the  islands  of  Taboga,  Taboguilla  and 
Uraba,  and  the  other  islands  in  the  harbour  of  Panama, 
viz. :  Flamingo  (or  Flamenco)  Ilenao,  Perico  (and  Culebra 
if  it  be  an  island)  ;  with  all  the  rights  and  appurtenances 
thereunto  belonging,  in  full  sovereignty,  to  be  owned  and 
held  for  ever  by  the  United  States,  in  as  full  and  ample 
a  manner  as  they  are  or  have  been  heretofore  held  by  New 
Granada ;  it  is  understood,  that  the  cession  now  made  of 
the  said  islands,  shall  not  impair  the  title  of  individuals  to 
any  part  of  the  said  islands,  holding  the  same  by  bona  fide 
grants  from  the  Republic  of  New  Granada,  or  as  assignees 
of  such  grants.  Without  other  restriction,  the  United 
States  may  hereafter  exercise  full  and  exclusive  jurisdiction 
of  the  said  islands  Flamingo  (or  Flamenco)  Ilenao,  Perico 
(and  Culebra  if  it  be  an  island). 

Article  VII. 

For  and  in  consideration  of  the  grants  and  cessions 
contained  in  the  foregoing  article,  it  is  hereby  stipulated 
and  agreed  that  the  United  States  shall  allow  or  pay  to 
the  Republic  of  New  Granada  the  full  sum  of 
dolrs.  currency  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  said  sum 
of  dolrs.  the  United  States  shall  retain  the  sum  of 


14 


dolrs.  specified  in  the  fifth  article  of  this  Convention, 
to  he  applied  to  the  purposes  in  that  article  particularly 
designated,  and  the  balance  of  dolrs.  shall  be 

paid  to  the  Republic  of  New  Granada,  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  within  sixty  days  after  the  exchange  of  ratifications 
of  this  Convention. 

Article  VIII. 

The  present  Convention  shall  be  ratified  by  the  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  United  States,  by  and  with  the  advice  and 
consent  thereof,  f  sic,J  and  by  the  President  of  the  Republic 
of  New  Granada  with  the  consent  and  approbation  of  the 
Congress  of  the  same,  and  the  ratifications  shall  be 
exchanged  in  the  city  of  Washington,*  within  one  year 
from  the  date  of  the  signature  thereof,  or  sooner  if  possible. 

In  faith  whereof,  the  respective  Plenipotentiaries  have 
signed  and  sealed  these  presents  in  the  city  of  Bogota,  on 
the  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 

hundred  and  fifty 

[N.B.— The  four  Propositions  and  the  “Projet  of  a  Convention” 
were  withdrawn  by  the  above-mentioned  Plenipotentiaries  or  Com¬ 
missioners  of  the  United  States  in  the  subsequent  Conference  held 
on  the  12th  of  February.] 


MEMORANDUM 

Presented  by  the  Plenipotentiaries  of  New  Granada  to  the  Pleni¬ 
potentiaries  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Official  Conference 
HELD  ON  THE  12tH  OF  FEBRUARY. 

The  four  Propositions  which  the  Honorable  Messrs. 
Morse  and  Bowlin  laid  before  the  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Affairs  on  the  4th  instant,-  which  they  expounded  in  their 
“  Projet  of  a  Convention”  for  the  adjustment  of  claims  of 
citizens  of  the  United  States  against  New  Granada,  and 
for  settling  other  differences  between  the  parties,  are 
absolutely  inadmissible  on  the  part  of  the  present  Executive 
Government. 

Those  propositions  imply  in  reality  a  cession  to  the 
United  States,  as  complete  and  gratuitous  as  it  would  be 


15 


unconstitutional  and  disgraceful,  of  the  territory  of  the 
State  of  Panama;  a  cession  that  the  one  Government 
ought  not  to  pretend  to,  or  exact,  nor  can  the  other  grant, 
in  conformity  with  the  principles  on  which  the  political 
institutions  of  the  two  Republics  are  based. 

If  what  constitutes  or  may  constitute  certain  interna¬ 
tional  arrangements  indispensable,  is  the  necessity  and 
conveniency  of  preserving  the  interoceanic  transit  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  free,  safe,  and  open  on  the  footing 
of  a  complete  equality,  for  the  individuals  and  trade  of  all 
nations,  the  plan  proposed  by  Messrs.  Morse  and  Bowdin, 
in  the  name  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
does  in  nowise  satisfy  such  necessity  and  conveniency. 
Were  a  plan  of  that  kind  adopted,  the  overwhelming 
influence  of  the  United  States,  or  rather  the  effective  and 
constant  interference  of  their  Government,  even  by  the 
medium  of  arms,  in  everything  concerned  with  the  transit 
across  the  Isthmus,  would  in  fact  constitute  a  privilege  in 
favour  of  the  Union,  its  citizens,  and  its  political  and 
mercantile  interests. 

Several  clauses  of  the  u  Projet  of  a  Convention”  stand 
at  open  variance  with  the  engagements  that  this  Republic 
has  entered  into  in  its  contract  with  the  Panama  Railroad 
Company. 

Moreover,  the  propositions  that  have  been  made  imply 
that  New  Granada  is  responsible  to  the  United  States  for 
the  events  that  happened  at  Panama  on  the  15th  April, 
1856,  and  for  their  disastrous  consequences  ;  whereas  it 
has  been  proved,  by  the  testimony  of  respectable  and 
unbiassed  witnesses,  that  those  events  sprang  from  the 
brutal  conduct  of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  towards  a 
native  of  the  country ;  that  they  were  aggravated  by  the 
support  which  other  citizens  of  the  United  States  gave  to 
that  individual,  instead  of  endeavouring  to  have  him 
arrested  ;  and  that  they  became  irremediable  by  the 
authorities  and  public  force,  owing  to  the  obstinacy  and 
passionate  excitement  of  citizens  of  the  United  States. 


I 


16 


The  actual  Executive  Government  considers  this 
Republic  to  be  irresponsible  towards  the  United  States  for 
the  events  that  have  been  indicated,  and  for  the  conse¬ 
quences  thereof ;  nor  could  it  ever  consent  to  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  the  United  States  awarding  conclusively  on  the 
question  of  responsibility,  even  if  the  notorious  partiality 
which  unfortunately  characterises  the  data  and  reports  on 
which  that  Government  has  had  to  base  its  views,  should 
be  overlooked. 

It  is  therefore  impossible  for  the  propositions  that  have 
been  presented  to  serve  as  a  basis  of  discussion  for  any 
arrangement ;  and,  consequently,  the  present  Administra¬ 
tion  believes  itself  justified  in  declining  to  take  them 
under  consideration. 

However,  as  it  would  be  of  unquestionable  utility  that 
everything  connected  with  the  interoceanic  transit  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  should  be  settled  in  a  durable  and 
satisfactory  manner,  so  as  to  give  to  all  nations  equal 
rights  and  facilities,  and  an  equally  effectual  protection  to 
their  citizens  or  subjects,  as  well  as  to  their  property  or 
interests;  the  undersigned  Plenipotentiaries  of  the  New 
Granadian  Government  have  been  instructed  to  initiate 
and  carry  on  with  the  Honourable  Plenipotentiaries  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  negotiations  on  these 
points,  in  which  the  principles  of  territorial  sovereignty 
and  of  the  perfect  equality  in  the  free  transit  for  all 
nations  are  to  be  constantly  kept  in  Hew.  Thus  the 
Administration  that  is  to  be  installed  under  the  direction 
of  a  new  President  on  the  1st  of  April  next,  would  find, 
readily  prepared,  the  elements  of  a  just  and  proper 
arrangement,  marked  with  all  the  features  of  stability 
that  are  indispensable  in  the  matter  herein  treated  of ; 
one  of  which  would  seem  to  be  the  friendly  intervention, 
in  the  same  matter,  of  those  Powers  that  are  principally 
concerned  in  the  freedom,  equality,  security  and  facility 
of  the  transit. 

Bogota,  12th  February,  1857. 

Lino  de  Pombo.  Florentino  Gonzalez. 


IT 


Legation  of  the  U.S.A.,  &c. 

Bogota,  February  13th,  1857. 


Hon.  Hr.  Lino  de  Pombo,  and 

„  ,,  Florentino  Gonzalez,  Commissioners,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 

Gentlemen, — The  written  communication  which  we 
had  the  honour  to  receive  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  several 
Commissioners,  on  the  part  of  the  Governments  of  New 
Granada  and  the  United  States  of  America,  with  a  view 
to  the  settlement  of  the  various  questions  growing  out 
of  the  difficulties  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  will  probably 
bring  to  a  very  speedy  termination  the  mission  with 
which  the  undersigned  have  been  charged  by  their 
Government,  and  induce  the  necessity  of  some  other 
arbitrement. 

In  order  to  relieve  ourselves  and  our  Government 
from  the  responsibilities  which  must  necessarily  follow  the 
abrupt  termination  of  a  mission  which  the  government  of 
the  United  States  had  every  reason  to  hope  and  wish 
could  have  closed,  in  a  friendly  manner,  the  several  points 
which  seemed  likely  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  two  sister 
republics,  and  avoid  the  necessity  of  measures  not  consonant 
with  the  principles  and  policy  of  our  Government ;  the 
Undersigned  feel  it  due  to  themselves  and  to  their  country 
briefly  to  recapitulate  the  present  state  of  the  difficulties, 
in  order  that  the  world  may  know  how  the  friendly 
disposition  of  our  Government  has  been  met,  and  that  all 
the  responsibility  may  fall  where  it  belongs. 

It  i3  well  understood,  that  the  several  subjects  of 
complaint  on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  had  been  for  some  time  under  discussion  between 
the  Resident  Minister  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Bowlin, 
and  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Mr.  Pombo,  without 
being  able  to  come  to  any  satisfactory  conclusion. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  as  a  last 
resort,  in  the  hope  of  terminating  all  these  difficulties, 
associated  one  of  the  undersigned  with  the  Resident 


18 


Minister,  who  were  instructed  to  commence  negotiations 
upon  other  bases  ;  Mr.  Morse  was  urged  to  make  every 
exertion  to  reach  Bogota  before  the  meeting  of  the  New 
Granadian  Congress,  and  did  arrive  in  Bogota  five  or  six 
days  previous  to  its  meeting. — Every  means  consistent  with 
diplomatic  etiquette  was  had  to  obtain  an  audience  of  the 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  before  the  issuing  of  the 
Executive  message  and  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of 
Foreign  Affairs. — The  reason  for  desiring  this  audience 
must  be  obvious,  and  the  American  Commissioners 
were  pained  to  find,  that  no  opportunity  would  be 
afforded  them  to  express  the  views  and  wishes  of  their 
Government  until  it  was  too  late. — In  their  official  com¬ 
munications  to  the  Congress,  the  President  and  the 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  took  such  a  decided  opinion 
against  the  claims  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  as  to  make  it  a  question  whether  it  was  worth 
while  to  go  through  the  form  of  presenting  their  views 
and  propositions,  and  which  once  for  all  closed  the  door 
against  any  amicable  arrangement. 

One  would  have  supposed  that  a  government  really 
anxious  to  avoid  such  consequences  as  will  follow  the 
failure  of  the  present  commission  would  have  been  at  least 
disposed  to  hear,  before  cutting  off  all  hopes  of  negotiation. 

The  Undersigned  could  scarcely  believe,  and  did  not 
until  the  official  documents  were  published,  that  the 
Executive  part  of  the  government  would  have  at  once  cut 
the  Gordian  knot,  and  proclaim  to  the  Congress  and  the 
world,  that  they  did  not,  and  would  not,  hold  themselves 
responsible  for  the  massacre  of  American  citizens,  and  the 
plunder  of  more  than  half  a  million  of  American  property 
at  Panama  on  the  15th  of  April  last. 

We  expected  to  find  either  in  the  Executive  message, 
or  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  some 
convincing  and  overwhelming  fads  which  must  have  so 
completely  satisfied  the  minds  of  the  Government  of  New 
Granada,  and  to  justify  the  position  so  confidently  assumed. 


19 


We  looked  in  vain  in  either  of  these  documents  for 
any  tangible  and  reliable  facts .  In  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  we  read,  with  feelings  of 
surprise,  a  ridiculous  account  of  a  certain  Jack  Oliver,  in 
the  hearsay  evidence,  getting  into  a  difficulty  with  a  native, 
and  of  his  having  fired  a  revolver,  without  hitting  or 
injuring  any  person  whatever, — if  there  was  any  such 
person,  whether  he  was  an  American  or  not,  all  depends 
upon  hearsay  testimony ;  but  the  facts  are,  that  all  the 
murders  and  robberies  were  committed  some  hours  after 
the  difficulty  of  Jack  Oliver  with  the  native  about  a  water 
melon. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  has  taken  an 
immense  amount  of  testimony,  not  only  of  American  gen¬ 
tlemen,  officers  of  the  government,  officers  of  the  Railroad, 
but  the  evidence  of  persons  of  almost  every  nation, 
Englishmen,  Frenchmen,  Irishmen,  Germans  and  New 
Granadians,  who  were  present  and  saw  and  heard  what 
they  stated  under  the  sanctity  of  an  oath,  and  their  testi¬ 
mony  leads  to  the  irresistible  conclusion  that  the  attack, 
murder,  and  plunder  of  the  passengers  on  the  Railroad  was 
a  pre-concerted  movement.  That  the  Governor  of  Panama 
and  the  police,  whose  duty  it  was,  under  the  treaty  and  the 
charter  of  the  Railroad,  to  protect  and  defend  the  lives 
and  the  property  of  the  travellers,  were  both  participants 
in  the  disgraceful  attack  upon  not  only  unarmed  men,  but 
women  and  children.  In  using  the  word  unarmed,  the 
undersigned  are  justified  by  the  evidence  in  saying,  that 
many  of  the  Americans  had  revolvers,  but  that  they  had 
discharged  them  at  Aspinwall,  which  alone  can  account  for 
the  astonishing  fact,  that  while  eighteen  Americans  were 
certainly  killed  and  forty  or  fifty  wounded,  but  one  or  two 
natives  at  most  were  seriously  injured.  This  evidence  the 
undersigned  have,  and  has  been  offered  to  be  exhibited 
to  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  can  and  will  be 
exhibited  here  in  Bogota  to  any  one  desiring  to  learn  the 
real  state  of  facts. 


c 


20 


With  these  facts  before  them,  language  would  fail  them 
to  express  their  surprise,  at  the  examination  of  the  testimony 
which  accompanies  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  the  most  important  of  which  would  seem  to  be 
that  of  Count  de  Nollent,  the  French  Consul  at  Panama. 
In  the  second  paragraph  of  his  letter  are  these  words : — 
(i  El  Consul  de  Francin  no  ha  sido  testigo  presencial  de 
ninguno  de  los  hechos  que  tuvieron  lugar  en  el  terreno  de 
la  lucha.”  “  The  Consul  of  France  was  not  an  eyewitness 
of  any  of  the  facts  which  took  place  on  the  scene  of 
difficulty .”  A  witness  who,  in  any  civilized  country,  should 
begin  to  give  his  evidence  with  these  words,  would  be 
ordered  to  leave  the  stand  by  any  justice  of  the  peace  who 
had  ever  opened  a  single  law  book. 

That  the  opinions  of  a  man  on  hearsay  evidence,  in 
which  he  himself  admits  that  there  were  other  and  con¬ 
tradictory  accounts,  should  be  permitted  to  outweigh  the 
volumes  of  testimony  of  persons  of  many  nations,  the 
most  of  them  equal  in  every  respect  in  standing  to  Mr. 
Nollent,  is  u  strange,  is  passing  strange.”  The  undersigned 
do  not  profess  to  know  the  rules  of  evidence  in  New 
Granada,  but  they  do  know  that  in  every  other  country  in 
the  world,  such  evidence  is  utterly  worthless,  and  wrould 
not  be  received  in  any  court  of  justice. 

Nor  can  the  Undersigned  attach  any  more  weight  to 
the  hearsay  and  opinions  of  Mr.  Perry,  the  English  consul, 
however  respectable  he  may  be  thought,  when  he  seeks  to 
excuse  or  justify  the  murderous  assault  upon  women  and 
children,  most  complacently  saying,  u  Due  allowance 
should  be  made  from  the  state  of  excitement  on  the  part 
of  the  populace  from  the  constant  acts  of  brutality  they 
have  received  from  the  lower  class  of  California  passengers.” 

Nor  can  they  see  the  slightest  bearing  on  the  case,  in 
the  very  remarkable  and  only  fact  which  he  relates,  that 
his  daughter,  the  Chancellor  of  the  French  consulate,  and 
himself,  met  this  same  Jack  Oliver  drunk  on  the  same  day, 
and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  they  could  get  out  of 
his  way. 


We  have  also  seen  (not  officially)  the  report  of  the 
Governor  of  Panama,  and  he  coincides  with  these  two 
gentlemen  ;  however  respectable  he  may  be  considered, 
when  it  is  shown  by  gentlemen  as  respectable  as  himself,  that 
he  is  deeply  implicated  in  these  riotous  scenes,  which  it  was 
his  duty  to  prevent,  neither  his  statement,  his  report,  or 
his  oath  can  be  received  in  a  matter  in  which  he  is  per¬ 
sonally  interested. 

Of  such  testimony  as  the  parties  concerned  it  is  presumed 
any  number  may  be  had. 

Assuming  then,  that  this  constitutes  the  strongest 
testimony  to  make  out  a  case  for  the  Congress  of  New 
Granada,  whatever  weight  may  be  attached  to  it  here,  we 
apprehend  that  an  impartial  public  will  pronounce  it  utterly 
worthless  by  itself,  even  if  it  was  not  directly  contradicted 
by  the  testimony  of  a  large  number  of  impartial  witnesses 
of  different  nations  taken  under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath ; 
but  we  are  not  disposed  to  argue  a  question  which  has  been 
discussed  by  the  Resident  Minister  of  the  United  States, 
and  which  has  met  the  approbation  of  his  Government. 

If  the  Government  of  New  Granada  has  satisfied  itself 
upon  the  best  authority  and  taken  the  position  that  no 
indemnity  is  due  at  all,  and  will  not  even  receive  any  pro¬ 
positions  to  settle  amicably  with  the  United  States  for  the 
loss  of  many  of  her  citizens,  and  an  immense  amount  of 
valuable  property,  some  of  which  was  shipped  off  in  broad 
daylight,  by  boats  from  Panama,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  has  also  coolly  and  impartially  caused  an 
examination  to  be  made  by  a  special  commissioner  and  the 
resident  minister  near  this  Republic  ;  and  it  too  has  come 
to  a  conclusion  and  taken  its  position,  founded  upon  direct, 
positive,  unequivocal  and  legal  testimony,  in  which  neither 
the  official  reports  of  parties  implicated,  nor  the  hearsay 
evidence  or  opinions  of  any  one  (no  matter  how  respectable) 
have  been  relied  on,  and  that  conclusion  and  position  is 
that  a  number  of  unoffending  American  citizens  have  been 
inhumanly  butchered,  and  a  very  large  amount  of  property 
c  2 


destroyed,  for  which  the  Government  of  Newr  Granada  is 
justly  and  truly  bound  by  the  laws  of  nations,  without 
reference  to  the  treaty,  the  charter  or  the  contract  -with 
the  Panama  Railroad  Company,  and  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  has  appointed  the  undersigned  Com¬ 
missioners  to  meet  those  of  New  Granada  to  settle  the 
amount  of  that  indemnity,  and  to  fix  upon  the  manner  of 
payment. 

When  our  Government  shall  learn  that  at  the  first 
interview  with  the  Commissioners  on  the  part  of  New 
Granada,  they  are  stopped  by  a  distinct  and  explicit 
statement,  that  no  idemnity  is  due,  and  that  that  is  not  a 
subject  for  negociation,  and  that  the  Government  of  New 
Granada,  has  disposed  of  that  question  in  a  summary  and 
ex-parte  manner,  it  will  be  for  them,  and  not  us,  to  deter¬ 
mine  what  other  means  of  redress,  the  dignity  and  honour 
of  the  nation  demand. 

In  the  hurry  of  examining  the  propositions  of  the  United 
States,  the  Commissioners  of  New  Granada  have  entirely 
misunderstood  one  of  them  ;  we  neither  proposed  nor  do 
we  want  a  gratuitous,  dishonourable  or  unconstitutional 
cession  of  the  State  of  Panama,  or  any  part  of  it,  but 
simply  that  the  people  of  Panama  and  Aspinwall  (Colon) 
should  have  the  authority  of  erecting  a  municipal  govern¬ 
ment,  which  shall  for  the  future  secure  that  safety  and 
protection  to  the  transit  route  which  the  treaty,  the 
laws,  and  the  charter  of  the  Railroad  Company  intended 
to  provide  for,  but  which  the  Government  of  New 
Granada  has  been  unable  to  accomplish,  and  which  has 
imposed  upon  the  United  States  the  necessity  of  keeping 
a  strong  naval  force  near  Panama  and  Aspinwall  (Colon) 
to  prevent  a  repetition  of  the  bloody  scenes  of  April  last. 

To  the  proposition  contained  in  the  latter  part  of  your 
communication,  in  relation  to  the  seeuritv  of  the  route 
across  the  Isthmus,  wTe  have  only  to  say  that  the  United 
States  have  now  in  the  most  solemn  forms,  by  treaty,  by 
the  charter  and  contract  with  the  Railroad  Company, 


23 


and  the  laws  of  the  Republic,  every  possible  guarantee  for 
the  security  of  the  transit  route  which  New  Granada  can 
give,  but  that  the  government  is  either  unable  or  unwil¬ 
ling  to  make  good  that  guarantee,  and  that  to-day,  for  its 
open  violation  by  her  citizens,  she  peremptorily  refuses 
even  to  entertain  a  proposition  to  settle  the  liabilities. 

In  conclusion,  we  beg  lea ve  most  respectfully  to  remind 
the  Commissioners  of  New  Granada  that  if  they  persist 
in  the  position  which  they  have  taken,  the  entire  respon¬ 
sibility  will  fall  on  their  country  and  themselves. — They 
have  closed  the  door  against  any  future  negotiation,  they 
have  brought  the  two  governments  to  a  direct  issue,  and 
in  their  absolute  refusal  to  treat,  have  forced  upon  the 
United  States,  the  alternative  either  to  stand  degraded 
before  the  world  and  its  own  fellow -citizens,  as  unable  or 
unwilling  to  protect  their  lives  and  property — or  to  take 
into  their  own  hands  the  adjustment  of  the  indemnity,  the 
means  and  measure  of  redress,  and  to  provide  for  the  safety 
of  her  citizens  on  the  transit  of  the  Isthmus. 

The  undersigned  still  hope  and  believe,  that  a  just 
regard  for  the  preservation  of  amity  between  the  two 
countries  will  induce  the  Commissioners  of  New  Granada 
to  reconsider  the  hasty  decision,  which  was  made  without 
even  hearing  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  States,  and 
entertaining  the  conviction,  that  when  the  importance  of 
the  issues  be  fully  appreciated,  that  the  love  of  justice  will 
outweight  all  pride  of  consistency, 

We  have  the  honour  to  be,  gentlemen,  very  respectfully, 
your  obedient  servants, 

Isaac  E.  Morse.  James  B.  Bowlin. 


(  Translation. ) 

To  the  Honourable  Messrs.  Isaac  E.  Morse  and  James  B.  Bowlin, 
Plenipotentiaries  of  the  United  States  of  America,  &c.,  &c.,  &o. 

Bogota,  23d  February,  1857. 
Gentlemen, — The  undersigned,  Plenipotentiaries  of 
New  Granada  for  discussing  with  the  Honourable  Pleni¬ 
potentiaries  of  the  United  States  the  international  questions 


24 


connected  with  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  have  the  honour 
to  answer  the  note,  dated  the  13th  instant,  which  was 
received  at  the  Office  for  Foreign  Affairs  in  the  afternoon 
of  the  14th,  and  which  they  were  pleased  to  address  to 
them  with  reference  to  the  “  Memorandum  ”  presented  by 
the  undersigned  in  the  conference  held  on  the  12th 
instant,  declaring  inadmissible  as  a  basis  of  discussion 
for  the  settlement  of  the  said  questions,  the  four 
propositions  set  forth  in  a  u  Projet  of  Convention” 
exhibited  on  the  4th  instant  by  the  Honourable  Messrs. 
Morse  and  Bowlin  to  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs. 

It  is  in  the  first  place  the  bounden  duty  of  the  under¬ 
signed,  in  like  manner  as  the  Plenipot  entiaries  of  the  United 
States  consider  it  to  be  theirs,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the 
beginning  of  their  note,  here  to  demonstrate  the  regularity 
and  the  justice  of  the  conduct  of  them  Government,  as  well 
as  their  own,  in  the  business  matter  of  the  present  corres¬ 
pondence,  so  that  whatever  may  be  the  upshot  of  the  same, 
they  can  at  no  time  be  accused  of  having  under  grave 
circumstances  forgotten  what  the  legitimate  interest  of  the 
Republic  required  of  them,  nor  of  having  endangered  from 
false  ideas  of  honour,  or  prejudiced  feelings,  the  valued  and 
important  relations  with  that  great  nation  which  is  called 
to  preside  over  the  destinies  of  both  Americas. 

On  the  arrival  at  Bogota  of  the  Honourable  Mr.  [Morse, 
there  was  no  affair  whatever  pending  or  under  discussion 
with  the  United  States  Legation,  relating  to  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama.  The  question  of  postage  upon  the  interoceanic 
correspondence,  with  regard  to  which  it  had  been  demon¬ 
strated  that  the  arguments  drawn  from  the  existing  treaty 
between  the  two  republics  and  from  the  contract  with  the 
Railroad  Company  were  perfectly  valueless,  had  been  referred 
to  the  Granadian  Minister  at  Washington,  and  it  was  known 
that  on  the  22d  of  November  he  had  acquainted  the 
Secretary  of  State  with  having  received  his  instructions. 
In  the  question  regarding  the  national  tax  for  tonnage 
chargeable  in  the  ports  of  Panama  and  Colon,  no  serious 


25 


controversy  had  been  established,  and  the  Executive 
Government  had  determined  upon  proposing  to  Congress 
[as  it  has  already  done]  the  total  suppression  of  that  tax. 
As  regards  the  events  of  the  15th  April  of  1856,  the 
Honourable  Mr.  Bowlin  having  proceeded  to  Panama,  on 
a  commission  of  investigation,  on  behalf  of  his  Government, 
immediately  after  having  sent  in  to  the  Secretary  for 
F oreign  Affairs  his  two  notes  of  a  general  character,  dated 
respectively  the  23d  and  30th  of  June,  which  were  imme¬ 
diately  answered,  neither  the  Legation  make  any  further 
advances  in  the  affair,  nor  the  New  Granadian  Executive 
considered  it  to  be  its  duty  to  anticipate  explanations,  all 
correspondence  remaining  suspended  in  expectation  of  the 
new  orders  which  were  to  be  transmitted  from  the  United 
States.  In  this  sense,  and  in  no  other,  can  be  taken  that 
clause  of  the  note  of  the  Plenipotentiaries  which  states 
that  the  Resident  Minister  and  the  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  after  a  lengthened  discussion,  had  not  been  able  to 
arrive  at  any  satisfactory  conclusion. 

On  the  27th  of  January,  the  Honourable  Mr.  Morse 
presented  his  credentials,  five  days  previous  to  the  meeting 
of  the  Legislative  Chambers,  and  on  the  23d  he  was  pre¬ 
sented  to  the  Chief  of  the  Executive  Government.  Far 
from  soliciting  an  immediate  audience,  which  would  not 
have  been  refused  to  him,  he  agreed  without  hesitation, 
and  even  officiously  adding  that  he  was  aware  of  the  press 
of  congressional  business  upon  the  members  of  the  Admi¬ 
nistration,  to  the  indication  made  to  him  by  the  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  on  taking  leave  of  him  at  the  Govern¬ 
ment  House,  that  he  would  invite  him  for  a  conference 
[which  took  place  on  the  4th]  at  the  latest,  for  Saturday, 
the  7  th  of  February.  But  even  had  Mr.  Morse  or  Mr. 
Bowlin  availed  themselves  of  any  opportunity  previous  to 
the  1st  instant,  the  day  in  which  Congress  met,  one  of 
which  presented  itself  in  the  unofficial  visit  which  previous 
to  that  day  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  made  to  the 
former,  and  in  the  course  of  which  they  conversed  together 


26 


for  a  long  period  without  any  witnesses,  [until  the  British 
subject  Mr.  William  Wills  came  in  also  on  a  visit],  to 
explain  the  views  and  wishes  of  his  Government,  it  is 
nearly  certain  that  neither  in  the  Presidential  Message  nor 
in  the  general  report  of  the  said  Secretary  would  the 
questions  relating  to  Panama  have  been  treated  in  a 
different  manner 9  but  frankly  and  determinedly,  for  the 
following  reasons. 

In  the  first  place,  because  the  Executive  Government 
was  acquainted  with  the  Message  from  the  President  of 
the  United  States  to  the  Congress  on  the  2d  of  December, 
in  which,  after  having  given  information  notoriously  inexact 
upon  the  tonnage  and  interoceanic  postage  questions,  and 
going  on  to  speak  of  the  Panama  tragedy  of  1 5th  April, 
he  says  — “  I  caused  full  investigation  of  that  event  to  be 
made,  and  the  result  shows  satisfactorily  that  complete 
responsibility  for  what  occurred  attaches  to  the  Government 
of  New  Granada.”  By  these  phrases,  added  to  various 
other  passages  in  the  Message  which  constitute  a  severe 
act  of  accusation  against  our  country,  it  was  ’proclaimed,  to 
the  Congress  of  the  Union  and  to  the  world ,  that  New  Granada 
was  responsible  for  the  assassinations  and  robberies  committed 
upon  citizens  of  the  United  States ;  the  President  thereby 
assuming  a  decided  position  regarding  the  North  American 
claims.  It  apeared  natural  and  indispensable  to  oppose 
with  equal  solemnity  Message  to  Message,  in  rectification 
of  the  facts  and  in  vindication  of  the  national  honour,  the 
charges  being  unjust ;  it  is  therefore  not  to  be  wondered 
at,  that  in  the  presence  of  the  distinguised  citizen  com¬ 
missioned  to  notify  to  the  Government  of  New  Granada 
the  sentence  of  its  culpability,  pronounced  in  the  face  of 
all  nations  by  one  of  the  interested  parties,  and  to  exact 
indemnity  and  security,  that  this  Government  should  also 
take  up  a  decided  position  and  energetically  lift  up  its  voice 
and  declare  under  the  safeguard  of  sufficient  proof  its 
irresponsibility. 

In  the  second  place,  the  proofs  collected  were  not  only 


27 


sufficient,  but  conclusive  and  unimpeachable ;  and  the 
Executive  Magistrate  in  fulfilling  his  duty  of  reporting  to 
the  Congress,  at  the  opening  of  its  sessions,  the  course  and 
state  of  the  affair,  felt  called  upon  to  do  so,  with  the  fidelity 
becoming  the  elevated  position  in  which  the  Constitution 
of  the  Republic  has  placed  him  in  order  to  watch  over  its 
general  interests. 

The  four  propositions  presented  on  the  4th  by  the 
Plenipotentiaries  of  the  United  States,  were  literally  as 
follow : 

1st.  u  To  erect  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Aspinwall 
(Colon)  into  two  municipalities,  independent  and  neutral,  to 
govern  themselves,  with  a  territory  ten  miles  wide  on  each 
side  of  the  Railroad.  The  perfect  freedom  guaranteed, 
sovereignty  unchanged. — Other  nations  to  be  invited  into 
the  guarantees.” 

2nd.  “  To  transfer  to  the  States  the  two  little  clusters 
of  Islands  in  the  bay  of  Panama  in  full  sovereignty  for  a 
naval  station,  and  all  reserved  rights  and  privileges  in  the 
Panama  Railroad  charter  for  an  ample  consideration.” 

3rd.  u  To  pay  the  damages  occasioned  by  the  late 
Panama  riot.” 

4th.  u  The  sum  to  be  paid  by  the  United  States.” 

Each  of  them  had  at  the  foot  explanatory  commentaries, 
in  which  it  was  endeavoured  to  show  that  the  two 
first  were  convenient  and  even  advantageous  to  New 
Granada  ;  with  respect  to  the  third,  to  prove  the  respon¬ 
sibility  of  the  Republic ;  and  to  demonstrate  with  regard 
to  the  events  of  the  15th  April,  that  we  should  abide  by 
the  proofs  obtained  by  the  agents  of  the  United  States 
Government,  upon  the  supposition  that,  on  our  part,  not 
only  had  we  failed  to  prosecute  any  enquiry,  but  that  we 
had  thrown  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  investigations 
carried  on  by  said  agents.  But  the  true  explanation  of 
the  proposition  was  to  be  found  in  the  “  projet  of  a  Con¬ 
vention,”  likewise  presented,  and  moreover  the  Plenipo¬ 
tentiaries  made,  during  the  conference  they  held  with  the 


28 


Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  whatever  additional  observa¬ 
tions  they  thought  proper,  without  mentioning,  however, 
or  offering  any  other  document. 

All  this  was  taken  into  the  serious  consideration  of  the 
Executive  Government ;  so  that  the  answer  given  eight 
days  afterwards  by  the  undersigned,  both  being  members 
of  the  Administration,  in  the  conference  of  the  12th  with 
the  u  Memorandum”  of  the  same  date,  cannot,  in  justice, 
be  called  precipitate,  nor  can  it  be  said  to  have  been  given 
without  at  least  hearing  the  Plenipotentiaries  of  the 
United  States. 

The  undersigned,  acting  conformably  to  their  instruc¬ 
tions,  declared  the  propositions  made  to  be  inadmissible : 
but  they  did  not  close  the  door  on  all  farther  negociation. 

They  declared  that  the  propositions  signified  the  cession 
of  the  entire  territory  of  the  State  of  Panama,  inasmuch 
as  that,  under  a  show  of  the  municipal  admininistration 
of  the  strip  of  land  comprising  the  Railway  from  one 
extreme  to  the  other,  and  with  most  ample  privileges 
placed  apparently  under  certain  local  corporations,  the 
greater  part  of  these  would  be  formed  of  individuals 
foreign  to  the  country,  and  would  in  fact,  according  to 
the  Projet  of  Convention,  be  under  the  dependency  of 
the  United  States  Consuls  and  under  the  tutelage  and 
pressure  of  the  land  and  sea  forces  of  that  Republic  ;  for 
the  Islands  in  the  bay  of  Panama,  being  occupied  by  the 
United  States,  some  of  which  are  within  gun  shot  of  the 
city,  that  dependency,  tutelage,  and  pressure  would  be 
effective  and  constant  ;  and  likewise,  because  the  territory 
of  the  State  of  Panama,  being  inaccessible  at  present  and 
for  many  years  to  come  to  the  rest  of  New  Granada, 
except  by  sea,  the  foreign  power  that  should  gain  a  footing 
thereon  would  in  fact  be  the  possessor  and  ruling  power 
of  the  same. 

The  cession  would  be  gratuitous  and  dishonourable. 
Pecuniary  compensation  is  tendered,  or  purchase  money, 
amount  as  yet  undeterminate,  in  exchange  for  territorial 


29 


seigniorage  and  for  rights  and  reserves  on  the  Railroad. 
Whatever  may  be  the  sum  promised,  and  from  which 
deduction  wrould  be  made  for  the  15th  of  April,  the 
remainder  could  never  represent  the  value  assignable  to  the 
territory  of  the  whole  State  of  Panama,  and  above  all  to 
the  marvellous  bridge  thrown  bv  nature  between  the  two 

O  J 

oceans  ;  nor  with  millions  could  New  Granada  redeem 
herself  from  the  infamy  and  consequent  ruin  to  which  she 
would  condemn  herself  by  selling  for  money,  peopled 
territories,  making  foreigners  against  their  will  of  many 
thousands  of  her  citizens,  and  opening  the  door  to  dominion 
and  conquest  by  a  foreign  power. 

The  cession  would  be  inconstitutional.  The  constitution 
of  the  Republic  designated  its  territory  as  independent  of 
all  foreign  dominion  :  declared  that  citizenship  could  neither 
be  forfeited  or  suspended  except  as  a  penalty,  according  to 
the  laws :  and  guaranteed  to  all  citizens  direct  suffrage  in 
elections,  which  the  Projet  of  Convention  would  pretend 
to  limit  in  Panama  and  Colon  to  certain  proprietors  of 
landed  and  other  property. 

The  undersigned,  declared  that  the  plan  proposed  by 
the  Plenipotentiaries  for  permanently  securing  liberty  of 
transit  from  sea  to  sea,  by  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  does 
not  satisfy  its  legitimate  object,  and  they  proved  it.  The 
Government  of  the  United  States  wishes  to  become  the 
privileged  owner  of  the  interoceanic  ways  :  they  only  offer 
the  transit  to  such  nations  as  may  agree  to  the  neutrality 
of  the  territorial  strip  of  land,  acknowledging  its  municipal 
governments,  and  not  upon  the  footing  of  perfect  equality. 
The  Government  of  New  Granada  proposes  a  negotiation 
that,  giving  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  to 
their  property  the  effective  protection  they  desire,  and  the 
safety  which  they  say  is  now  wanting,  with  no  other  reason 
but  the  suspicion  consequent  on  the  faults  committed  by 
themselves,  should  extend  to  all  nations  the  same  benefits 
and  the  same  advantages,  leaving  sacred  the  principle  of 
territorial  sovereignty;  and  here  it  may  be  added, ensuring 


30 


to  the  State  of  Panama,  for  its  own  proper  administration, 
the  revenue  now  so  much  wanted  owing  to  the  extreme 
liberality  of  the  franchises  granted.  This  proposal  has  not 
been  properly  appreciated  :  it  implies,  and  so  it  must  be 
understood,  the  participation  of  other  Powers  in  the 
negotiation. 

They  also  declared  that  various  clauses  of  the  i(  Projet 
of  Convention'*  were  in  opposition  to  the  contract  made 
with  the  Panama  Railroad  Company.  That,  for  instance, 
which  authorises  the  Consuls  of  the  United  States,  in 
certain  cases,  to  establish  and  collect  taxes  upon  the  Rail¬ 
road  and  upon  the  passengers  and  property  passing  by  the 
same  ;  also  that  clause  which  would  attribute  to  the  United 
States  full  and  exclusive  power,  either  by  charter  or  in  any 
other  manner,  to  provide  for  the  construction  of  any  other 
Railroad,  within  the  territorial  district  of  the  existing  one. 

And  they  declared  finally,  in  the  name  of  their  Govern¬ 
ment,  that  they  consider  New  Granada  not  responsible  for 
the  events  of  Panama  of  the  loth  April  and  their  lament¬ 
able  consequences,  and  cannot  consent  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  should  decide  the  question :  the 
which  comprehends  a  formal  refusal  of  the  indemnity 
demanded.  The  motives  of  refusal,  are  to  be  found 
expressed  in  a  few  words  in  the  u  Memorandum”  itself,  and 
shall  here  be  extended.  This  is  not  a  pecuniary  question, 
but  a  question  of  principle. 

The  capital  point  is,  the  antecedents  of  the  events  and 
their  immediate  origin.  The  inhabitants  of  Panama  were 
predisposed  against  the  Californian  emigration,  on  account 
of  its  generally  brutal  behaviour,  and  still  more  predisposed 
against  the  new  species  of  adventurers,  whose  breeding 
place,  whose  recruiting  station,  whose  arsenal  of  resources, 
whose  starting  point,  and  whose  point  d’  appui  are  the 
United  States,  and  who  have  improved  and  brought  anew 
upon  the  scene  the  ancient  filibusterism.  This  unfavourable 
predisposition  existed  principally  amongst  the  masses  of 
the  poorer  class,  who  were  frequently  the  victims  of  the 


31 


outrages  committed  by  the  passing  emigrants,  and  amongst 
a  great  number  of  destitute  strangers,  brought  from  the 
West  Indies  and  other  places  as  labourers  on  the  Railroad, 
and  afterwards  turned  adrift  by  the  Company  to  starve. 
Such  predisposition  was  the  natural  effect  of  experience, 
and  whilst  it  existed,  nothing  was  more  easy  or  inevitable 
than  an  explosion  of  popular  rage  and  vengeance  whenever 
any  new  excess  should  provoke  it.  This  is  what,  first  the 
United  States  Consul  at  Panama,  then  the  Minister  Mr. 
Bowlin  and  the  Commissioner  Mr.  Corwine,  and  now  the 
honourable  Plenipotentiaries,  have  styled  'premeditation  or 
previous  concert.  New  Granada  is  not  to  blame  that  the 
elements  of  a  sudden  and  fierce  conflagration  should  have 
been  thus  accumulated. 

A  party  of  Californian  filibusters  lands  at  Panama,  not 
having  been  able  to  disembark  in  Nicaragua;  then  the 
train  arrives  from  Colon  with  some  hundreds  of  the 
dreaded  passengers  or  emigrants,  and  one  of  these  savages 
outrages  a  native,  fires  his  pistol  at  another  without  any 
justifiable  cause,  and  is  supported  and  protected  by  those 
of  his  party.  The  hour  for  retaliation,  fixed  by  Providence, 
sounded,  without  New  Granada  being  at  all  to  blame. 

The  Plenipotentiaries  present,  as  a  ridiculous  hearsay 
account ,  the  initiatory  episode  in  which  Jack  Oliver ,  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  figures  as  aggressor.  But 
three  citizens  of  the  United  States,  eye-witnesses  and 
victims  of  the  riot,  by  name  G.  B.  Wright,  P.  B.  Reading, 
and  W.  C.  Waters,  pointed  him  out  by  name,  in  an  account 
of  the  affray  published  under  their  signatures  in  the  San 
Francisco  Herald  of  the  4th  May  ;  and  a  French  merchant, 
M.  Bernard,  mentioned  in  the  certified  statement  of  the 
Consul  of  France,  Count  De  Nollent,  saw  him  fire  the 
pistol.  This  unimpeachable  testimony  is  sufficient  to  prove 
that  there  is  no  hearsay  account ,  and  that  the  conclusion 
the  Commissioner  Mr.  Corwine  comes  to  upon  this  point, 
as  well  as  the  previous  assertion  made  by  the  Legation  of 
the  United  States,  to  the  effect  that  the  pistol  was  dis- 


32 


charged  by  a  native  as  a  preconcerted  signal  for  the  out¬ 
break,  are  contrary  to  the  facts  of  the  case. 

With  respect  to  posterior  events,  the  legitimate  conse¬ 
quence  of  the  previous  ones,  according  to  the  state  of 
irritation  that  prevailed,  some  charge,  although  not  abso¬ 
lute,  might  be  brought  against  the  Republic,  if  the 
authorities  had  remained  indifferent  or  had  not  proceeded 
as  quickly  as  possible,  and  with  all  the  means  at  their 
disposal,  to  quell  the  tumult  and  render  protection  to  lives 
and  property.  But  the  contrary  is  proved  by  abundant 
and  trustworthy  evidence,  it  being  testified  particularly  by 
the  Consuls  of  Equator,  France,  England,  and  Peru  at 
Panama,  who  must  be  supposed  to  be  impartial,  admitting 
at  the  same  time,  that,  with  regard  to  those  circumstances 
which  did  not  fall  under  their  own  immediate  notice,  they 
collected  the  most  veridical  information  at  the  moment, 
when  it  was  not  possible  there  should  have  been  any  con¬ 
fabulation  in  order  to  disfigure  the  truth.  Many  witnesses, 
both  native  and  foreigners,  have  been  judicially  examined 
at  different  times,  first  as  it  being  the  duty  of  the  public 
functionaries,  and  afterwards  at  the  requisition  of  the 
Attorney- General  of  the  nation,  and  the  depositions  taken, 
not  only  justify  the  Governor  of  the  State,  but  also  all  his 
subordinates,  including  the  police. 

With  regard  to  the  Governor,  who  exerted  himself 
with  lively  zeal  to  appease  the  natives,  and  who  had 
managed  to  contain  them,  as  also  to  prevent  the  discharge 
of  a  cannon  upon  the  heap  of  passengers  that  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  steamer  Taboga,  and  who  strove  in  vain-  to 
make  his  voice  be  heard  by  those  who  were  defending 
themselves  in  one  or  two  edifices,  scarcely  is  there  any  one 
now  who  would  censure  him  for  any  other  thing,  than  for 
having  authorized  the  police  to  fire  in  order  to  take  the 
Railroad  Station,  if  they  should  themselves  be  fired  upon, 
as  was  done ;  and  this,  after  that  the  Governor  himself,  the 
United  States  Consul,  and  some  of  those  who  accompanied 
them,  had  been  fired  upon  by  the  North  Americans  :  that 


order,  under  such  circumstances,  was  sufficiently  excusable, 
even  if  its  legality  and  fitness  be  not  acquiesced  in.  And 
with  regard  to  the  police  agents  or  gens  cCarmes ,  we  will 
limit  ourselves  to  saying,  that  upon  examination  as  eye¬ 
witnesses,  by  the  Prefect  of  Panama,  in  the  first  days  of 
September,  three  respectable  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
Messrs.  Allan  Me  Lane,  David  M.  Corwine,  and  William 
Nelson,  upon  this  question  :  u  If  they  saw  any  individuals 
of  the  gendarmerie  rob,  or  wound  intentionally  any  pas¬ 
senger,  when  and  where,  and  if  they  communicated  it  to 
any  authority  ?”  they  did  not  make  any  other  charge 
against  them  than  that  of  having  fired  in  order  to  take 
possession  of  the  Station,  and  Mr.  Nelson  stated  that  he 
had  heard  say  that  some  gens  d’armes  were  afterwards 
offering  for  sale  the  pistols  and  watch  of  one  of  the  victims, 
the  French  subject  M.  Dubois. 

It  is  not  a  rational  charge  against  the  police,  that 
simultaneously  with  them,  many  of  the  rioters  entered  the 
Station.  Who  could  contain,  in  such  moments,  an 
infuriated  populace  ?  Enough  was  done,  notwithstanding 
their  small  number,  to  place  in  safety  so  many  of  the 
persons  who  were  shut  up  there. 

To  recognise  on  the  part  of  New  Granada  responsibility 
towards  the  United  States  for  the  occurrences  of  the  15th 
April,  1856,  and  consequently  the  obligation  to  indemnify 
them  for  the  damages  and  losses,  wrould  be  the  height  of 
folly  on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  this  country  :  and 
much  less  after  that  the  blood  of  Granadian  citizens  had 
been  spilt  owing  to  the  manifest  aggression  of  North 
American  citizens  :  much  less,  when  in  consequence  of 
those  events,  this  Republic  has  been  so  atrociously  calum¬ 
niated  in  the  face  of  all  nations,  and  has  suffered  so  much 
in  its  moral  and  material  interests  :  much  less,  she  beino* 
the  one  that  has  a  right  to  exact  reparation  for  the  dis¬ 
respectful  proceedings  of  Consul  W  ard,  of  Captain  Bailey, 
and  of  Commodore  Mervine,  official  agents  of  the  United 
States  Government,  and  compensation  in  favour  of  the 


national  victims  in  favour  of  the  city  of  Panama,  and  in 
favour  of  the  inoffensive  foreigners  who  in  any  way  suffered 
in  that  catastrophe. 

Our  brethren  the  Chilians  and  Mexicans  are  hurled  forth 
from  their  possessions  by  sheer  force ;  they  are  sacked* 
hanged,  hunted  down  like  wild  beasts  in  California,  with¬ 
out  safeguard  or  reparation :  American  citizens  who  have 
seized  the  reins  of  power,  after  the  manner  of  conquerors, 
shoot,  confiscate  property,  and  level  even  to  their  founda¬ 
tions  the  cities  in  Nicaragua  :  and  should  New  Granada, 
the  classic  land  of  patriotism,  villify  itself  by  consenting  to 
pay  for  the  outrages  perpetrated  upon  it  ! 

Nor  is  it  possible  that  this  can  be  the  intention  of  the 
Government  at  Washington.  Five  or  six  days  after  the 
deplorable  events  at  Panama,  there  was  formed  there,  by 
several  hot  annexionists  or  speculators,  a  plan  for  tergiver¬ 
sating  the  facts  to  the  prejudice  of  New  Granada  :  and  this 
plan  has  been  carried  into  execution,  and  having  met  with 
voluntary  or  deceived  auxiliaries,  has  had  the  effect  of 
concealing  the  truth  from  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  The  undersigned  Plenipotentiaries  are  bound  to 
•believe  that,  in  the  present  grave  question,  that  Govern¬ 
ment  is  not  animated  by  any  spirit  of  ill-will  towards  this 
Republic  :  they  are  bound  to  suppose  that,  it  becoming 
better  informed  with  regard  to  those  events  and  with  regard 
to  the  specific  causes  of  what  it  calls  insecurity  of  the 
transit  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  it  would  have  acted 
in  a  truly  friendly  manner  with  the  Granadian  Legation 
near  it,  or  with  the  Executive  Government  by  means  of 
its  own  in  Bogota,  in  order  to  avoid  fresh  collisions  between 
the  passengers  by  the  railway  and  the  natives,  and  to 
remove  all  motive  of  fear  and  difficulty.  One  of  the 
means,  considering  the  immense  flow  of  passengers  and 
treasure  four  times  a  month,  would  be  to  agree  in  the  per¬ 
manence  of  some  vessel  of  war  of  the  United  States  in  the 
bay  of  Panama,  with  instructions  to  assist  the  Governor  of 
the  State  whenever  he  might  request  it,  for  the  protection 


35 


of’  the  transit :  another,  not  to  place  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  collecting  certain  moderate  taxes  upon  the  transit,  which 
are  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  public  administration : 
and  lastly,  another,  to  accept  and  support  the  idea  of  a 
negotiation  between  the  two  Governments  and  those  of 
England  and  France,  which  might  lead  to  a  complete 
guarantee, and  without  prejudice  to  the  territorial  sovereignty, 
of  the  freedom  and  safe  frequenting  of  the  interoceanic 
route,  upon  the  basis  of  perfect  equality  for  all  nations. 

Although  the  undersigned  have  not  authority  to  treat 
upon  questions  of  indemnification  in  favour  of  the  United 
States,  they  ought  not  to  be  silent  in  the  present  Note, 
touching  the  pecuniary  charges  which  it  is  pretended  to 
impose  upon  New  Granada. 

The  Railroad  Company,  whose  principal  chest,  existing 
in  the  Panama  station,  was  not  plundered  on  the  15th  of 
April,  and  which  suffered  very  little  injury  in  that  edifice, 
appears  to  claim  exorbitant  sums  for  damages,  although  the 
transit  of  treasure,  passengers,  and  merchandise  suffered  no 
subsequent  abatement.  That  this  enterprise,  so  favoured 
by  the  Republic,  should  wish  to  avail  itself  of  its  misfortunes 
by  such  demands,  is  absolutely  inconceivable. 

The  Plenipotentiaries  say  in  their  note,  that  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  lost  an  immense  amount  of  property, 
part  of  which  was  embarked  and  taken  from  Panama  in 
boats,  in  broad  daylight.  Such  an  assertion  would  at 
once  have  no  value,  unless  upon  proofs  that  those  who 
witnessed  such  embarkation  or  abstraction  of  stolen  goods, 
denounced  the  fact  fruitlessly  to  the  authorities  ;  but  from 
the  depositions  of  September  already  cited,  of  Messrs. 
McLane,  D.  M.  Corwine  and  Nelson,  it  appears  :  1st. 
That  previously  to  the  riot,  there  had  been  embarked  in  a 
launch,  which  had  not  been  touched  by  any  one,  the  mail 
bags  and  all  the  packages  addressed  for  California,  which 
had  arrived  in  the  passenger  train  :  two  car  loads  of 
luggage,  belonging  to  these,  only  remaining  :  and,  2ndly. 
That  the  train  which  was  expected,  which  was  ordered 

i> 


36 


back  to  Colon,  and  which  was  therefore  preserved  without 
injury,  contained  five  hundred  'packages  of  goods  and  a 
car  of  luggage.-  It  is  evident,  moreover,  that  the  eating- 
house  and  the  two  hotels  or  stores  of  trifling  value,  where 
the  robberies  took  place,  could  not  contain  that  immense 
amount  of  'property ,  valued  at  more  than  half-a-million  of 
dollars. 

It  is  also  necessary  to  say  something  about  the  number 
of  victims,  which  has  been  so  much  exaggerated.  The 
Plenipotentiaries  of  the  United  States  say  that  u  while 
eighteen  Americans  were  certainly  killed  and  forty  or  fifty 
wounded,  but  one  or  two  natives,  at  most,  were  seriously 
injured.”  The  total  number  of  killed  in  the  Panama 
tumult,  or  who  died  from  that  immediate  cause,  was 
eighteen  persons,  all  men,  and  one  individual  was  seriously 
wounded,  who  embarked  for  California.  This  point  is 
fully  established.  Amongst  the  eighteen  persons  was  a 
Frenchman,  M.  Dubois,  and  there  were  also  some  natives, 
as  is  proved  by  various  accounts.  One  single  North 
American  of  the  Californian  passengers,  by  the  steamer 
Cortes ,  named  Joseph  Stokes ,  killed  with  his  revolver  two 
of  the  natives,  in  the  attack  which  these  made  with  stones 
and  cutlasses  upon  the  Pacific  Hotel,  whilst  pursuing 
Oliver  and  his  defenders  :  and  before  he  died,  he  must 
have  wTounded  others,  for  one  of  his  companions,  who 
speaks  of  his  heroic  deeds  in  the  u  California  Chronicle 
of  San  Francisco,  of  the  5th  of  May,  says  :  u  I  think 
Stokes’  shots — six  in  number — all  took  effect,  for  he  was 
deliberate,  though  he  fired  rapidly”  ;  and  after  relating 
that  he  reloaded  his  revolver  at  the  Station  and  sallied 
forth  again,  adds ;  “  the  natives  gathered  around,  and 
Stokes  advanced  and  fired  with  his  six-shooter,  taking 
deliberate  aim.  He  fired  slower  the  second  time  than 
at  first.” 

As  the  New  Granadian  Government,  according  as  it 
appears  from  this  note  and  the  “  Memorandum”  of 
the  12th  doe3  not  refuse,  but  rather,  on  the  contrary, 


37 


seeks  to  negociate  and  treat  relative  to  the  complete  and 
lasting  security  and  freedom  of  the  interoceanic  transit 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  but  upon  equitable  as  well 
as  liberal  bases,  the  undersigned  consider  that  the  Plenipo¬ 
tentiaries  of  the  United  States  are  not  in  the  position  to 
suppose  their  Government  under  the  alternative  of 
degradation  or  violence,  of  which  they  speak,  for  the  non¬ 
admission  of  the  propositions  presented  up  to  this  date. 

In  order  no  longer  to  defer  the  present  reply,  and  not 
to  risk  overstepping  therewith  the  limits  of  moderation, 
which  they  have  traced  out  for  themselves,  the  undersigned 
abstain  from  making  other  important  commentaries,  which 
the  Note  of  the  13th  would  suggest.  They  conclude 
therefore,  by  placing  at  the  disposal  of  the  Plenipoten¬ 
tiaries  of  the  United  States,  for  their  inspection,  all  the 
documents  relative  to  the  Panama  occurrences,  which  have 
been  collected  at  the  Foreign  Office;  and  manifest  to  them, 
that  with  that  object  and  with  any  other  conducing  to 
throw  light  upon  the  disagreeable  questions  pending,  and 
which  might  lead  them  to  a  decorous  and  pacific  settlement, 
they  are  disposed  to  accept  the  invitations  to  confer,  which 
may  be  made  to  them. 

The  undersigned  Plenipotentiaries  of  New  Granada 
avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity  to  present  to  the 
honourable  Messrs.  Morse  and  Bowlin  the  homage  of  their 
respect. 

Lino  l>e  Pombo.  Florentlno  Gonzalez. 


Legation  of  the  United  States. 

Bogota,  Feb.  26th,  1857. 

To  the  Honour.iblea  Messrs.  Lino  de  Pombo  and  Florentino  Gonzalez, 
Commissioners  on  the  part  of  New  Granada,  &c.,  &c. 

Gentlemen, —  The  undersigned  Commissioners  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  of  America,  have  the  honour  to 
acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  communication  of  23d 

instant. 

D  2 


38 


It  is  with  pain  they  are  compelled  to  perceive,  that  the 
friendly  mission  of  their  Government  must  be  entirely 
fruitless,  and  that  the  door  is  closed  by  the  Commissioners 
of  New  Granada.  The  positions  assumed  in  the  “  Memo¬ 
randum”  of  the  12th  instant,  are  all  maintained  and 
reiterated  in  the  following  decided  language : — “  Los 
infrascritos,  obrando  conforme  a  sus  instrucciones,  decla- 
“  raron  inadmisibles  las  proposiciones  hechas ;  pero  no 
“cerraron  la  puerta  para  toda  negociacion.” — u  The  under¬ 
signed,  acting  in  conformity  to  their  instructions,  declared 
the  propositions  inadmissible  ;  but  did  not  shut  the  door  to 
every  kind  of  negotiation/"  AVhat  other  negotiation  may 
have  been  alluded  to,  we  are  at  a  loss  to  understand.  The 
four  propositions  with  which  the  undersigned  were  charged 
by  their  Government,  after  having  been  examined  and 
commented  on,  are  declared  to  be  inadmissible,  and  the 
only  inference  which  could  possibly  be  drawn  from  the 
disclaimer  qualifying  the  absolute  refusal  to  negotiate  upon 
any  of  the  four  propositions,  is  that  there  were  some  other 
questions  at  issue,  between  the  two  Governments,  not 
included  in  these  four  propositions,  because  the  substance 
of  the  entire  Convention  proposed,  is  to  obtain  indemnity 
for  the  past,  and  security  for  the  future. 

Near  the  close  of  your  communication  we  find  the  key 
to  the  true  meaning,  which  seems  to  be,  that  while  New 
Granada  refuses  positively  to  treat  with  the  United  States 
upon  the  subject  of  indemnity  for  the  past  and  security 
for  the  future,  u  the  idea  of  a  negotiation  between  the  two 
Governments  and  those  of  England  and  France,  which 
might  lead  to  a  complete  guarantee  without  prejudice  to 
the  territorial  sovereignty,  of  the  liberty  and  free  use  of  the 
interoceanic  way,  on  the  basis  of  perfect  equality  of  all 
nations,”  is  tendered  as  the  base  of  another  and  different 
negotiation. 

To  this  we  can  only  say,  that  at  present  the  road  is 
owned  by  American  citizens,  and  much  the  largest  portion 
(propably  nine-tenths)  of  the  passengers  and  commerce 


39 


belong  to  the  United  States.  It  is  not  within  our  instruc¬ 
tions  to  enter  upon  any  new  base  of  negotiations,  in  which 
England,  France,  or  any  other  nations  of  the  world  are  to 
decide  what  guarantees  are  sufficient  for  the  safety  of  the 
property  and  lives  of  our  citizens. 

Indeed,  we  may  as  well  say,  once  for  all,  that  our 
Government  has  now  every  possible  guarantee  which  New 
Granada  can  possibly  offer,  and  finding  that  she  is  either 
unable  or  unwilling  to  enforce  those  guarantees,  or  give 
such  .  protection  as  by  the  treaty  and  the  charter  of  the 
Railroad  Company  she  is  pledged  to  do;  the  United  States, 
as  the  guardian  and  protector  of  the  three  (sic)  passengers 
who  pass  monthly  over  trie  route,  must  have  something 
more  tangible  than  paper  pledges  and  written  contracts, 
which  can  only  give  rise  to  useless  and  endless  discussion. 

At  the  close  of  this  commission,  we  have  only  to  add 
further,  that  the  case  having  arrived  as  contemplated  in 
our  instructions,  we  have  to  make  a  demand  from  the 
Government  of  New  Granada,  for  the  immediate  payment 
of  a  sum,  which  has  been  reduced  to  the  lowest  possible 
amount,  for  reasons  which  must  be  obvious,  as  the  price  of 
indemnity  for  the  loss  of  property  stolen  and  destroyed  on 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  on  the  15th  of  April,  1856,  by 
citizens  of  New  Granada.  We  have  the  honour  to  enclose 
a  copy  of  our  letter  under  the  instructions  of  our  Govern¬ 
ment  to  the  Honourable  M.  Pombo,  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs;  and  to  renew  to  the  Commissioners  of  New 
Granada  our  most  respectful  consideration. 

Isaac  E.  Morse.  James  B.  Bowlin. 


Legation  of  the  United  States. 

Bogota,  February  27th,  1857. 

Honourable  Lino  de  Pombo,  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  &c. 

Sir, — The  entire  failure  of  the  Commissioners  appointed 
by  the  United  States,  to  come  to  any  satisfactory  under¬ 
standing  with  the  Commissioners  of  New  Granada,  or 


40 


even  any  agreement  upon  a  basis  of  negotiation  ; — it 
becomes  our  duty,  under  the  instructions  of  our  Govern¬ 
ment,  to  demand  the  payment  of  the  sum  of  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  as  an  indemnity  to  our  fellow-citizens 
for  loss  of  property  taken  or  destroyed  by  citizens  of  New 
Granada  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  on  the  15th  of  April, 
1856. — Although  the  sum  claimed  and  proved  to  have  been 
stolen  and  destroyed,  amounts  to  much  more  than 
half-a-million  of  dollars,  for  reasons  which  we  trust  will  be 
appreciated,  our  Government,  in  a  spirit  of  great  liberality, 
has  placed  its  ultimatum  at  the  very  lowest  possible  figure. 

We  have  the  honour  to  be  very  respectfully,  your  most 
obedient  servants, 

Isaac  E.  Morse.  James  B.  Bowlin. 


(  Ti  emulation.) 

Office  for  Foreign  Affairs. 

Bogotd,  February  23d,  1857. 

The  undersigned,  Secretary  of  State,  laid  before  the 
Chief  of  the  Administration,  the  Note  which  the  Honorables 
Mr.  Morse  and  Mr.  Bowlin  were  pleased  to  address  to 
him  yesterday,  in  their  capacity  of  Commissioners  or 
Plenipotentiaries  of  the  United  States  with  regard  to  the 
Panama  questions. 

They  therein  inform  the  undersigned,  that  in  accordance 
with  their  instructions,  and  in  consequence  of  not  having 
been  able  to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  understanding  with 
the  Plenipotentiaries  of  New  Granada,  not.  even  with 
respect  to  a  basis  of  negotiation,  they  have  to  exact  the 
payment  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  a  sum  fixed  as 
an  ultimatum ,  and  in  a  spirit  of  great  liberality,  by  their 
Government,  as  an  indemnity  in  favour  of  their  fellow- 
countrymen  for  losses  of  property  stolen  or  destroyed  in 


f 


41 


the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  on  the  15th  day  o t  April,  1856, 
by  citizens  of  this  country. 

In  reply  to  the  said  Note,  the  undersigned  declares  in 
the  name  of  his  Government  and  in  a  solemn  manner  : 
that  the  Executive  Power,  for  the  ,  reasons  already 
manifested,  in  the  u  Memorandum”  of  the  12th,  and  in 
the  official  Note  of  the  23d  of  the  New  Granadian 
Plenipotentiaries,  considers  the  Republic  irresponsible 
towards  the  United  States  for  the  occurrences  at  Panama 
of  the  15th  of  April;  and  consequently  it  cannot  lend  its 
consent  to  the  demand  for  idemnification  made  upon  it, 
whatever  may  be  the  amount  at  which  the  Government  of 
the  Union  may  be  pleased  to  estimate  it.  It  has  already 
been  stated  in  the  said  Note  of  the  23d,  that  the  Executive 
Power  does  not  consider  this  a  pecuniary  question,  but  one 
of  principle. 

The  controversy  relative  to  the  said  occurrences  of 
Panama,  having  reached  the  position  of  an  ultimatum ,  in  as 
much  as  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  made 
the  cause  of  the  North  Amercan  citizens  involved  in  those 
occurrences  every  way  its  own,  the  undersigned  is  instructed 
to  add  ;  that  it  being  notorious  and  according  to  the  result 
of  the  investigation  made,  that  citizens  of  the  United  States 
were  the  cause  both  of  the  antecedents  and  of  the  imme¬ 
diate  origin  of  the  attempts  against  life  and  property  which 
occurred  in  Panama,  on  the  15th  day  of  April,  1856,  and 
who  rendered  altogether  impossible,  the  thoroughly  salutary 
intervention  of  the  authorities  and  of  the  public  force,  the 
Executive  Power  finds  itself  in  the  compulsory  position  of 
considering  the  Government  of  the  United  States  responsi¬ 
ble  for  those  attempts:  and  that  consequently  it  ought  to 
claim  and  does  claim  of  it  by  way  of  indemnification  for 
damages  and  injuries  experienced  by  the  city  of  Panama, 
by  various  of  its  inhabitants,  by  the  families  of  the  natives 
killed  or  wounded,  and  by  sundry  inoffensive  foreigners  of 
other  nations  in  their  persons  or  property,  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 


42 


In  addition  to  this,  the  Government  cf  the  United 
States  owes  injustice  reparation  to  New  Granada,  for  the 
rude  protest  dated  the  21st  of  April,  of  Consul  Thomas 
William  Ward,  and  for  the  proved  falsity  of  his  official 
assertions  regarding  persons  wearing  masks  and  respecting 
rapes,  which  he  did  not  dare  subsequently  to  maintain  in 
the  certificate  which  was  required  of  him,  and  which  he 
gave  under  his  signature,  on  the  5th  of  August ;  and  for 
the  disrespectfulness  of  Commander  T.  Bailey  towards  the 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Panama,  in  the  communications 
which  he  addressed  to  him  on  the  24th,  25th,  and  26th  April. 

Subsequent  facts,  and  which  are  connected  with  those 
of  the  15th  of  April,  in  the  complaints  and  claims  of  the 
official  agents  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
have  also  given  a  right  to  that  of  New  Granada  to  claim 
from  it,  the  damages  and  losses  consequent  upon  the  non¬ 
payment  of  the  legal  tax  of  interoceanic  postage  on  letters 
and  despatches  conveyed  in  the  North  American  mail  bags 
and  the  national  impost  of  tonnage  which  the  vessels  of  the 
United  States  have  desisted  from  paying,  in  consequence 
of  the  threats  of  Commodore  Mervine.  The  Executive 
forthwith  formally  establishes  this  right,  and  will  make  use 
of  it  in  the  name  of  the  Republic  at  the  fitting  moment. 

It  is  exceedingly  painful  that  owing  to  substantial 
mistakes,  and  in  consequence  of  unjust  prejudices,  a  dis¬ 
turbance  of  so  grave  a  nature  should  have  arisen  in  the  old 
and  constant  friendly  relations  between  two  Republics  of 
the  New  World,  very  disproportionate,  it  is  true,  in  actual 
power,  but  called  by  their  geographical  position,  by  the 
nature  of  their  political  institutions,  and  by  the  progress  of 
philosophical  and  humane  ideas,  to  march  together  towards 
a  smiling  future.  The  Government  of  New  Granada 
expects,  nevertheless,  from  the  wisdom  and  high  social 
position  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  that  upon  a 
new  and  calm  examination  of  the  facts,  he  will  give  to  his 
contemporaries  and  to  posterity,  the  noble  example  of 
rectifying  his  decisions  in  the  deplorable  affair  forming  the 


43 


subject  of  this  Note,  with  the  regard  due  to  reason  and  the 
principles  of  honesty,  which  are  and  have  been  at  all  times 
the  best  basis  of  good  policy. 

The  Undersigned  has  the  honour  to  be, [with  feelings  of 
distinguished  consideration,  the  Honourables  Messrs.  Morse 
and  Bowlin’s  most  obedient  servant, 

Lino  de  Pombo. 

To  the  Honourables  Isaac  E.  Morse  and  James  B.  Bowlin,  &c.,  &c. 


I 


ft 


APPENDIX. 


' 


. 


EXTRACT 


From  the  Presidential  Message  to  the  Congress 
of  New  Granada,  of  1st  February,  1857. 

“  The  lamentable  occurrence  of  the  15th  of  April,  of 
last  year,  whereof  the  city  of  Panama  was  the  theatre,  an 
event  which  has  been  so  much  disfigured,  in  consequence 
of  not  having  been  properly  understood,  or  the  causes 
which  produced  it  properly  appreciated,  has  given  rise  to 
various  claims  and  even  been  the  cause  of  the  sending  of  a 
special  Commissioner  to  Bogota.  Scarcely  had  the  first 
rumours  of  the  occurrence  reached  the  knowledge  of  the 
Executive  Power,  than  it  gave  the  most  pressing  orders 
for  proceeding  actively  against  those  persons  who  might 
be  found  guilty,  and  to  inflict  upon  them  the  penalties 
which  they  might  have  incurred.  It  ordered  likewise  that 
information  should  be  obtained  from  the  most  respectable 
persons,  and  as  many  data  as  possible  collected,  in  order  to 
ascertain  fully  the  origin  and  progress  of  that  act,  which 
was  described  as  a  premeditated  attack  from  the  people  of 
Panama  upon  the  inoffensive  passengers,  as  an  act  of 
barbarism,  the  repitition  of  which  was  thought  possible, 
for  the  pretence  was  made  that  it  was  feared  that  neither 
the  national  authorities,  nor  those  of  the  State,  possessed 
sufficient  means  to  give  protection  to  the  transit  across  the 
Isthmus.  The  complete  responsibility  of  the  Republic 
and  the  obligation  to  meet  the  most  exaggerated  charges, 
are  the  consequences  of  such  a  mode  of  judging. 

“  Resting  upon  the  most  respectable  and  impartial 
testimony,  I  can  assure  you  that  the  lamentable  occurrence 
of  the  15th  of  April  commenced  with  the  unjustifiable  act 
of  Jack  Oliver,  an  American,  having  fired  a  pistol  at  a 


48 


Granadian  who  was  selling  fruit.  The  dispute  being  of  a 
private  and  solitary  nature  at  first,  it  soon  became  general, 
either  because  endeavours  were  made  to  withdraw  Oliver 
from  the  hands  of  the  police,  or  that  the  natives  took  upon 
themselves  the  defence  of  their  fellow-citizen.  The  tumult 
increased  every  moment :  most  of  the  passengers  who  had 
revolvers,  thought  they  might  use  them  with  impunity 
against  the  natives,  considering  them  of  an  inferior  race, 
and  making  a  boast  of  treating  them  ill.  A  fight  ensued, 
without  any  human  power  being  able  to  prevent  it.  The 
advantage  in  the  said  fight  was  on  the  side  of  the  passen¬ 
gers,  provided  with  arms,  whilst  the  people  had  none. 

u  The  Governor  of  the  State,  accompanied  by  the 
Consul  of  the  United  States,  presented  himself  in  the 
midst  of  the  combatants,  and  succeeded  in  getting  the 
natives  to  suspend  their  fire.  Unfortunately  the  Consul 
could  not  get  the  passengers  to  do  the  same,  and  from  the 
Railway  Station,  wherein  they  had  taken  refuge,  a  volley 
was  fired  upon  the  Governor  and  the  said  Consul.  It  then 
became  impossible  to  restrain  the  furious  multitude :  no 
other  cry  was  heard  than  that  of  vengeance,  and  it  was 
totally  useless  to  attempt  to  avoid  unhappy  results.  The 
Consul  retired,  and  the  Governor,  persuaded  that  his 
presence  was  useless,  returned  to  the  city. 

u  Two  very  notable  facts  appear  demonstrated  in  the 
midst  of  the  confusion  with  which  the  occurrences  of  the 
15th  April  are  related  :  first,  that  Jack  Oliver,  firing  a 
pistol  shot  at  a  native,  without  motive  or  reason,  was  the 
immediate  cause  of  the  tumult ;  and  secondly,  that  the 
Governor  managed  to  calm  the  inhabitants  of  Panama, 
and  that  the  strife  commenced  afresh  when  the  volley  was 
fired  from  the  Station-house  and  the  various  hotels,  upon 
the  authorities  and  upon  the  people  standing  about  in 
groups.  These  facts,  the  authenticity  of  which  can  only 
be  doubted  by  the  blindest  partiality,  show  plainly,  that 
the  people  of  Panama,  docile  and  humane  as  the  rest  of 
the  Granadian  people,  was  neither  the  aggressor  nor  had 


49 


premeditated  any  such  thing.  It  listened  to  the  voice  of 
the  Magistrate,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  injustifiable 
tenacity  of  the  passengers,  there  would  not  now  be  any 
reason  to  lament  misfortunes  and  excesses  which  the  police 
was  insufficient  to  prevent  in  the  midst  of  a  furious  multi¬ 
tude.  There  were  excesses  committed,  perhaps  by  foreign 
labourers  brought  there  by  the  Railway  Company  and 
abandoned  in  Panama  to  their  own  resources,  and  without 
means  for  returning  to  their  homes  :  there  were  excesses  ; 
but  in  justice  to  the  people  of  Panama  it  must  be  said 
that  their  number  was  not  considerable,  considering  the 
general  excitement,  the  hour,  and  the  aggression.  Eighteen 
men  killed,  after  an  obstinate  nocturnal  combat,  in  which 
a  multitude  blinded  by  passion  took  part,  does  not  at  all 
prove  ferocity,  bloodthirstiness  or  premeditation.  History 
tells  us  that  in  all  countries,  under  similar  circumstances, 
the  number  of  victims  has  been  infinitely  greater. 

u  Since  the  discovery  of  the  gold  of  California,  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  has  been  crossed  by  an  infinite  number 
of  travellers  and  by  immense  sums  of  gold.  There  was  no 
Railroad,  and  persons  and  property  required  the  assistance 
of  the  natives,  both  on  the  desert  banks  of  the  river  Chagres 
and  in  the  solitudes  of  the  Cruces  road.  Nothing  was 
easier  than  to  assault  passengers  and  rob  their  property, 
if  the  inhabitants  had  not  been  of  a  highly  moral  character. 
Was  there  security  for  the  transit  at  that  period  ?  Yes, 
the  most  complete,  and  it  may  be  said  without  exaggera¬ 
tion,  that  in  no  country  in  the  world  immense  sums  of  gold 
have  passed  with  safety  through  vast  solitudes  as  they 
passed  over  the  Isthmus. 

u  There  was  complete  security,  there  is  at  present,  and 
there  always  will  be,  for  passengers  arid  their  property 
without  being  dependent,  in  any  way,  on  a  numerous  armed 
force.  The  occurrences  of  the  15th  April,  provoked  by 
the  brutal  attacks  of  an  American,  and  by  the  rashness 
and  obstinacy  of  the  passengers,  only  prove  that  the  patience 
of  a  people  should  not  be  abused,  however  humane,  passive, 


50 


and  hospitable  it  may  be  supposed  to  be.  In  Panama,  as 
well  as  throughout  the  Republic,  all  foreigners  without  * 
distinction  have  enjoyed,  not  only  the  most  complete 
security,  but  have  moreover  been  the  objects  of  the  most 
perfect  benevolence.  To  pretend  that  any  of  those  who 
cross  over  the  Isthmus  has  a  right  to  fire  upon  the  natives, 
and  that  these  should  humbly  receive  the  blow,  is  the  very 
height  of  folly  and  madness.  The  people  that  should 
tolerate  such  an  outrage  would  not  deserve  to  exist : 
ignominy  corrodes  and  envenoms  the  existence  of  nations. 

u  You  will  find  all  that  I  have  above  expressed  duly 
proved  in  the  documents  which  wdll  be  laid  before  you  by 
the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  no  less  than  the  exaggera¬ 
tion  of  the  charges  which  are  brought  against  the  Republic, 
when  it  ought  rather  to  make  them.  The  responsibility 
for  the  unhappy  occurrences  of  the  15th  April,  which  I 
sincerely  deplore,  does  not  rest  upon  New  Granada,  and 
for  the  future,  I  can  assure  you,  nothing  is  to  be  feared 
that  can  endanger  the  security  of  the  transit  over  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama.  The  authorities  of  the  State  count 
upon  the  necessary  means  for  maintaining  order,  and  if  at 
any  time,  in  questions  essentially  domestic,  they  have 
yielded  to  the  request  of  any  foreign  functionary,  there  wa& 
no  necessity  to  employ  the  force  which  was  placed  at  their 
disposal,  in  order  to  restore  public  tranquillity.  The  means 
of  which  they  could  themselves  dispose  were  sufficient.” 


EXTRACT 

From  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs’  Report 
to  Congress,  of  2d  February,  1857. 

A  much-bruited  disaster,  and  for  which  ;ve  may  exclaim 
aloud,  before  God  and  man,  that  our  beloved  country  is 
irresponsible,  has  unexpectedly  come  to  disturb  the  hitherto 


51 


uninterrupted  good  relations  between  the  Governments  of 
New  Granada  and  the  United  States :  complicated  at  the 
same  time  by  circumstances  and  unfavourable  tendencies  of 
the  moment,  and  by  municipal  or  legislative  acts  sinistrously 
interpreted,  which  render  more  complicated  the  diplomatic 
question  raised  and  still  pending,  but  which  it  is  not  difficult 
to  bring  to  a  happy  issue.  I  allude  to  the  tragical 
occurrences  at  Panama  of  the  15th  April :  sufficiently  and 
generally  known  throughout  the  country  from  the  official 
publications  made  at  the  time,  and  of  the  principal  part  of 
which  I  will  transmit  copies  to  the  Chambers,  although 
fatality  has  given  to  them  a  false  colouring  abroad. 

The  Executive  Government  being  aware  of  the  immense 
influence  of  those  events,  from  the  moment  the  first  news 
arrived  respecting  them,  and  the  consequent  urgent 
necessity  to  place  them  in  a  clear  point  of  view  and  in  the 
way  of  judicial  investigation  for  the  punishment  of  the 
guilty  persons,  issued  without  delay  all  the  orders  that 
were  thought  conducive  to  the  attainment  of  both  those 
objects :  and  moreover  being  well  aided  by  the  first  official 
reports  and  other  valuable  and  trustworthy  evidence,  was 
enabled  to  meet  on  not  unfavourable  grounds,  the  claims 
which  the  Legation  of  the  United  States  was  not  slow  in 
initiating,  by  order  of  its  Government. 

These  claims,  from  the  notorious  exaggeration  of  the 
charges  and  the  very  great  discrepancy  in  the  manner  of 
relating  and  appreciating  the  principal  circumstances  in  the 
documents  and  public  papers  which  were  received,  a 
divergence  not  to  be  explained  except  by  attributing  it  to 
the  hallucinations  of  prejudice  or  to  unfounded  antipathies, 
rendered  necessary  the  intervention  of  the  Attorney 
General  of  the  Nation,  who  addressed  an  injunction  to 
Panama  on  the  2d  July,  inserted  in  the  Official  Gazette  of 
the  5th,  for  the  adoption  of  certain  proceedings  and  ordain¬ 
ing  the  examination  of  witnesses  ;  also  an  order  addressed 
to  the  Governor  of  that  State,  dated  the  3d,  recommending 
him  to  apply  to  the  Foreign  Consular  Agents  at  Panama 
E 


52 


and  Colon,  for  explanatory  certificates  regarding  certain 
points  :  the  latter  measure  being  adopted  upon  the  well- 
founded  belief  that  there  was  but  little  hope  of  arriving  at 
the  real  truth,  except  by  means  of  the  condescension  of 
those  important  and  essentially  impartial  functionaries,  and 
for  the  obtaining  of  whose  depositions  the  co-operation  of 
the  Diplomatic  Corps  was  at  the  same  time  sought.  In 
the  meantime,  the  Foreign  Office  has  gone  on  collecting 
and  carefully  examining  a  mass  of  other  data  of  a  private 
and  public  nature,  more  or  less  authentic  and  worthy  of 
credit,  and  which  together  forms  a  voluminous  collection, 
in  order  to  obtain  by  comparing  the  whole,  serious  and 
profound  convictions  such  as  are  indispensable  for  clearly 
and  firmly  sustaining  a  delicate  and  important  cause  with 
probability  of  success. 

The  fruit  obtained  by  the  above  measures  has  completely 
corresponded  to  the  ideas  and  presentiments  which  inspired 
them,  as  far  as  regards  their  investigatory  object. 

In  the  deposition  of  witnesses,  there  is  found  to  be 
agreement  or  very  little  discrepancy  between  natives  and 
some  impartial  foreigners,  especially  as  regards  the  culpa¬ 
bility  of  the  North  American  passengers,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  tragic  events  of  the  loth  until  the  assault  made 
upon  the  railway  station  by  the  police  :  whilst  with  but 
few  exceptions  the  North  American  deponents,  either  state 
the  contrary,  or  did  not  see  or  wrere  unacquainted  with  what 
was  asked  of  them. — It  nevertheless  appears  that  : — 

u  The  Governor  of  the  State  is  blameless  :  so  that  the 
Attorney-General  of  the  Nation  has  declared  that  there  is 
no  foundation  for  any  proceeding  against  him  for  respon¬ 
sibility  incurred. 

“  Unanimously  :  That  the  assertion  contained  in  the 
United  States  Consul  Ward’s  report  to  the  Legation  at 
Bogota,  is  false,  as  regards  men  having  been  seen  amongst 
the  assassins  and  robbers,  disguised  with  black  masks,  in 
order  not  to  be  known  :  secret  instigators  of  course,  such 
as  are  employed  by  corrupt  communities,  and  whose 


53 


existence  would  have  corroborated  the  charge  of  pre¬ 
meditation. 

“  Only  two  witnesses,  North  Americans,  heard  the 
report  (probably  from  the  Consul  Ward)  of  the  rapes  which 
the  said  Cousul  mentioned  in  his  reports  ;  an  accusation 
which  is  totally  improbable. 

u  A  single  witness,  but  whose  deposition  is  confirmed  by 
the  respectable  testimony  of  the  British  Consul,  declares 
having  heard  one  of  the  unfortunate  victims  of  the  assault 
upon  the  station,  the  Irishman,  O’Neil,  say  that  the  person 
who  seriously  wounded  him,  was,  judging  by  his  appear¬ 
ance,  a  member  of  the  police  :  the  only  inculpation  of 
the  kind  against  the  police  force,  although  various  others 
of  a  general  character  are  made  by  two  North  Americans. 

“  It  is  stated  that  some  of  the  rails  were  removed  at 
the  moment  in  which  the  arrival  of  the  second  train  from 
Colon  was  expected  :  those  who  speak  of  this,  differ  with 
regard  to  the  object  of  the  mischief,  inclining  to  the  idea 
that  the  intention  was  to  prevent  the  arrival  of  assistance 
to  the  passengers.  One  witness,  a  North  American,  affirms 
that  the  object  was  to  plunder  the  train. 

Moreover,  a  considerable  amount  of  testimony  proves, 
what  now,  no  one  seriously  doubts  :  that  a  drunken  and 
quarrelsome  North  American,  by  brutally  firing  a  pistol 
shot  upon  a  native,  produced  the  alarm  and  popular 
excitement  :  that  the  armed  support  rendered  to  that 
barbarian  by  his  countrymen,  in  order  to  prevent  his  arrest, 
caused  the  riot  to  augment  rapidly,  and  to  infuriate  the 
people  :  that  the  North  Americans  fired  upon  the  Governor 
and  upon  their  own  Consul  :  that  the  Station-house  of  the 
Railroad  was  one  of  the  spots  from  which  they  kept  up  a 
sharp  fire  ;  that  the  number  and  fury  of  the  contending 
parties  rendered  it  impossible  to  calm  the  violent  tempest 
and  avoid  many  of  its  fatal  consequences,  although  the 
zeal  of  the  disproportionately  small  police  force,  aided  by 
not  a  few  natives  and  foreigners,  and  the  spirited  co¬ 
operation  of  the  generality  of  the  inhabitants  of  Panama, 


54 


saved  many  lives  and  much  property  :  that  the  four 
buildings  in  which  the  popular  inroad  was  productive  of 
damage  and  depredations  had  all  of  them  served  as  offensive 
and  defensive  posts  to  the  North  Americans  ;  and  that 
the  number  of  killed  in  the  encounter,  and  from  its 
immediate  consequences,  foreigners  and  natives,  amounted 
to  eighteen  persons,  besides  one  severely  wounded,  who 
embarked  for  California. 

In  support  of  the  futile  charge  of  premeditation  of  what 
happened,  an  argument  was  drawn  from  the  ringing  of  the 
bells  of  the  parish  church  of  Santa  Ana,  in  the  suburbs, 
shortly  after  the  pistol  shot  was  fired,  supposing  the 
circumstances  to  be  connected  together  by  previous  com¬ 
bination  ;  the  following  is  the  explanation  of  that 
occurrence.  The  priest,  Domingo  Ximenez,  curate  of 
Santa  Ana,  says  upon  oath  in  substance  what  follows,  and 
his  testimony  is  confirmed  by  several  eye-witnesses.  At 
the  moment  of  the  disturbance  in  the  Cienaga,  he  was 
in  his  church,  officiating  in  the  funeral  of  a  corpse ; 
suddenly  a  cry  of  fire  was  heard,  and  he,  the  Curate, 
believing  it  was  a  fire,  immediately  ordered  the  bells  to  be 
run 2:  in  the  manner  usual  on  such  occasions.  The  congre- 

O  C 

gation  took  the  alarm,  there  being  present,  from  curiosity, 
several  North  Americans  of  both  sexes;  the  alarm  extended 
to  persons  congregated  outside  the  church,  but  on  becoming 
somewhat  quieted,  the  corpse  was  removed  and  the  persons 
accompanying  it,  proceeded  towards  the  place  of  interment; 
some  women  then  appeared  exclaiming  that  the  Americans 
and  the  natives  were  killing  one  another  in  the  Cienaga, 
and  all  parties  dispersed,  leaving  the  corpse  alone,  until  it 
was  taken  in  and  attended  until  midnight  bv  the  relatives. 

The  loss  is  very  much  to  be  regretted  of  several  consular 
certified  statements  transmitted  to  this  department,  and 
which  unfortunately  disappeared,  owing  to  the  wreck  of  the 
Magdalena  mail  boat,  and  the  duplicates  have  not  as  yet 
been  received ;  but  three  that  remain,  those  of  the  Consuls 
of  England,  France,  and  Equator  at  Panama,  are  decidedly 


55 


confirmatory  of  what  I  have  stated  above,  excepting  only 
the  episode  of  Santa  Ana  just  mentioned,  upon  which  they 
are  silent.  Herewith  you  will  find  a  translation,  by  wTay 
of  sample,  of  the  report  of  the  French  Consul,  Count  de 
Nollent,  to  which  I  call  your  attention. 

According  to  these  unimpeachable  documents,  it  wTas  a 
North  American  who  fired  the  first  pistol  shot,  without 
either  cause  or  excuse.  The  British  Consul,  Mr.  Berry, 
mentions  his  name,  which  was  already  known  to  us,  Jack 
Oliver;  and  states  that  going  along  the  street  with  his 
daughter  and  M.  de  Varieux,  Chancellor  of  the  French 
Consulate,  they  met  with  that  individual  intoxicated,  that 
he  approached  them  rudely,  and  that  they  found  it  difficult 
to  escape  from  him. 

The  said  Consul  states  that  many  of*  the  passengers 
were  armed  with  revolvers. 

He  is  absolutely  averse  to  the  belief  that  there  was  any 
premeditation  ;  and  observes  that  had  there  been  an  inten¬ 
tion  to  plunder,  the  passengers  crossing  from  the  Atlantic 
side  would  not  have  been  attacked,  being  for  the  most  part 
poor  people,  but  those  returning  from  California,  loaded 
with  gold. 

Neither  does  he  believe  that  masks  were  used,  never 
having  heard  them  spoken  of :  and  M .  Consul  Ward  was 
the  only  person  who  told  him  that  a  woman  had  been 
ravished  by  some  blacks. 

Both  the  Governor  and  the  police  lost  no  time  in  inter¬ 
fering;  but  Mr.  Perry  considers  that  the  attack  on  the 
station-house,  made  by  order  of  the  Governor,  was  unne¬ 
cessary,  and  executed  with  military  violence,  because  the 
passengers  were  notoriously  badly  armed,  and  amongst 
them  there  wrere  many  women  and  children. 

He  affirms  that  the  firing  came  both  from  outside  and 
from  within  the  station-house ;  and  adds,  “  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  volley  fired  upon  the  Governor  came  from 
there.” 

Coinciding  with  the  French  Consul,  he  affirms  that 


56 


those  who  committed  excesses  were  for  the  most  part 
foreigners,  principally  persons  who  had  been  employed  as 
labourers  on  the  Railroad.  u  He  has  lived  nearly  fifteen 
years  in  Panama,  and  can  bear  witness  to  the  kindly  dis¬ 
position  of  the  native  population,  who  viewed  with  horror 
and  dismay  the  dreadful  occurrences  of  that  fatal  night.” 
And  with  respect  to  the  outrages  committed  he  adds  : — 
C(  Hue  allowance  should  be  made,  from  the  state  of  excite¬ 
ment  on  the  part  of  the  populace,  from  the  constant  acts 
of  brutality  they  have  received  from  the  lower  class  of  the 
California  passengers.” 

He  mentions  the  newly-arrived  filibusters,  as  a  cause 
of  alarm,  many  of  them  taking  an  active  part  in  the 
encounter. 

He  calls  attention  to  the  want  of  the  police,  which  the 
Railroad  Company  ought  to  have  kept  organized. 

He  says  finally  u  The  Company’s  loss  cannot  be  very 
considerable,  as  a  small  amount  of  money  was  abstracted 
and  the  damage  done  to  the  freight-house  was  trifling.” 

Such  is  in  fact  a  correct  outline  of  the  origin  and  cir¬ 
cumstances  of  what  in  order  to  shame  our  eminently 
hospitable  country,  unlimitedly  liberal  to  foreigners,  has 
been  baptized  in  the  United  States’  newspapers  and  even 
in  their  official  documents  with  the  frightful  epithet  of 
u  The  Panama  Massacre.”  After  wrhat  has  been  stated,  it 
may  be  asked  :  Is  the  Republic  responsible,  according  to 
the  common  sense  of  mankind,  for  the  robberies  and  deaths 
which  it  was  impossible  to  prevent  ?  The  Consul  of  France, 
M.  de  Nollent,  an  enlightened,  impartial,  and  judicious 
observer  of  events  on  the  spot  itself,  shall  make  answer  for 
me.  u  The  odium  of  those  events  and  their  terrible  conse¬ 
quences  must  be  attributed  to  the  Americans .” 

Americans ,  either  native  or  naturalised,  w  ere  those  wdio 
by  a  continued  series  of  ill-deeds  and  outrages  engendered 
an  ill-feeling  amongst  the  inhabitants  of  Panama  towards 
their  honourable  nationality.  The  following  circumstance 
happened,  at  no  very  remote  period,  in  one  of  the  public 


57 


streets  of  Panama.  The  Governor  was  talking  to  the 
Consul  of  the  United  States  :  an  American  approached  the 
Governor,  and  with  a  severe  blow  knocked  off  his  hat, 
saying — “  Our  Consul  is  not  to  be  spoken  to  with  your 
hat  on  !” 

An  American  was  the  brute  who,  u  saturated  with  rum 
and  blood,”  by  an  iniquitous  action  provoked  the  popular 
outbreak,  and  Americans  were  his  abettors. 

Americans  were  those  who  after  that  the  Governor  had 
pacified  the  mob  in  the  suburbs  of  Panama,  irritated  them 
afresh  and  rendered  their  pacification  impossible,  saluting 
with  volleys  of  shot  the  Governor  and  their  own  Consul. 

And  the  assassins  and  robbers  of  that  awful  night  were 
almost  all  unfortunate  blacks  brought  from  their  cabins  in 
a  foreign  land,  by  Americans ,  in  order  to  serve  as  labourers 
in  the  railroad,  and  afterwards  barbarously  condemned  by 
them  to  indigence  and  despair. 

By  challenging  witnesses,  either  from  being  people  of 
colour ,  or  from  having,  according  to  his  own  memory,  been 
previously  guilty  of  some  crime  Or  misdemeanour,  or  for 
having  procured  arms  for  their  fellow-citizens  on  the  15th 
of  April,  in  order  to  repel  force  by  force,  and  modelling 
after  his  own  fashion  the  history  of  events,  Mr.  Amos  B. 
Corwine  arrives  at  a  very  different  conclusion  in  the  report, 
which,  in  his  character  of  the  United  States  Government 
Commissioner,  he  addressed  to  Mr.  Secretary  Marcy  on  the 
18th  of  July.  All  unprejudiced  persons  who  will  read  and 
compare  shall  decide  on  which  side  lies  the  right. 

Fain  would  we  to-day,  nine  months  after  those 
deplorable  occurrences,  on  demonstrating  the  irresponsibility 
of  New  Granada,  be  enabled  likewise  to  say  :  the  murderers 
and  robbers  of  the  15th  April  have  been  convicted  and 
punished.  The  national  authorities  have  eagerly  sought 
that  they  should  be,  and  have  laboured  to  the  utmost 
extent  of  their  legal  power,  but  have  not  yet  obtained  their 
end,  no  doubt  owing  to  the  complicated  nature  of  the  affair, 
perhaps  also  from  the  slowness  indispensable  though  annoy- 


58 


ing  of  the  judicial  proceedings.  The  Executive  Govern¬ 
ment  foresaw  these  delays,  when  as  the  Legislature  was 
sitting,  and  something  might  be  done  in  a  legislative  form, 
for  accelerating  these  proceedings  and  ensuring  the  satis¬ 
faction  of  what  is  denominated  public  justice,  and  took  the 
necessary  steps  for  insuring  those  objects.  To  that  end  an 
official  note  on  the  subject  was  addressed  to  the  Senate  on 
the  27th  of  May  and  published  in  the  Gazette  of  the  31st : 
and  having  succeeded  in  obtaining  that  the  Chamber 
should  take  into  consideration  a  bill  for  the  better  admini¬ 
stration  of  national  affairs  in  the  federal  States  of  Antioquia 
and  Panama,  establishing  Intendents,  I  had  the  honour  to 
propose  three  additional  articles  to  that  bill,  two  of  which 
were  as  follows : 

A — In  each  of  the  States  of  Antioquia  and  Panama, 
there  shall  be  established  an  agent  of  the  public  adminis¬ 
tration,  who  shall  adopt  proceedings  ex  officio  or  conform¬ 
ably  to  the  general  instructions  and  orders  which  he  may 
receive  from  the  Intendent,  from  the  Attorney-General  of 
the  nation,  or  from  the  Executive  Government,  before  the 
political  authorities,  or  the  Justices  or  Tribunals  of  the 
State,  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  national  interests  or 
any  affairs  "whatsoever.  The  appointing  and  dismissing  of 
these  agents  appertains  to  the  Executive  Government,  "who 
shall  assign  to  them  for  salary  and  stationery  an  annual 
sum  not  less  than  one  thousand  dollars,  nor  exceeding  one 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars. 

B — In  case  of  circumstances  occurring  within  either  of 
the  States,  seriously  endangering  the  national  welfare,  the 
Executive  Government  is  hereby  authorised  to  appoint  one 
or  more  judges  in  commission,  as  functionaries  of  instruction 
and  with  the  necessary  jurisdiction  for  bringing  before 
them  all  and  any  public  officers  or  private  individuals,  and 
for  adopting  the  necessary  proceedings,  collecting  all  docu¬ 
ments  and  investigating  facts  in  order  to  obtain  the  trial 
and  punishment  of  the  guilty,  by  the  proper  authority. 
During  the  time  these  judges  arc  in  commission,  they  shall 


59 


be  entitled  to  a  daily  salary  of  four  or  five  dollars,  to  be 
fixed  by  the  Executive  Government,  and  shall  moreover  be 
paid  their  travelling  expenses  at  the  same  rate  as  Members 
of  Congress. 

This  law  which  could  have  been  promptly  and  usefully 
applied  in  Panama,  was  not  sanctioned,  but  was  still 
pending  in  a  mutilated  state  in  the  Chamber  of  Represen¬ 
tatives  when  the  session  closed.  And  as  its  importance 
and  conveniency  still  remain,  being  moreover  corroborated 
by  time,  it  becomes  my  duty  strenuously  to  recommend  its 
adoption,  including  the  above  articles,  with  the  appointment 
of  a  National  Intendent  at  Panama,  who  would  be  highly 
useful  as  regards  the  Railroad  and  interoceanic  transit, 
insuring  likewise  the  responsibility  of  the  Officers  of  the 
State,  in  all  matters  concerning  the  interest  of  the  Republic. 

The  tragedy  of  the  15th  April,  and  recent  incidents , 
according  to  the  expression  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  in  his  Message  to  Congress  of  December  last,  have 
caused  and  still  continue  to  cause  the  public  peace  and  the 
transit  across  the  Isthmus  to  be  considered  insecure.  In 
this,  there  are  serious  mistakes.  Never  has  any  complaint 
been  made  against  the  inhabitants  of  Panama  by  either 
residents  or  passing  travellers  for  actions  or  even  feelings 
of  an  hostile  character ;  and  every  person,  including  all 
North  American  citizens,  have  enjoyed  there  and  continue 
to  enjoy,  the  esteem  their  behaviour  may  entitle  them  to, 
besides  the  legal  guarantees.  Peace  and  order  rest  upon 
their  most  important  basis,  which  is  the  good  disposition 
of  the  people,  and  for  any  emergency  that  may  occur,  there 
is  an  organized  militia,  a  small  local  police  force,  and  a 
moderate  but  sufficient  garrison  of  national  troops.  From 
great  popular  outbreaks  of  a  violent  and  uncontrollable 
nature,  when  in  solemn  moments,  multitudes  are  suddenly 
congregated  together  becoming  electrified  and  infuriated, 
no  country  has  or  ever  can  be  exempted,  and  the  most 
civilised  communities  are  the  most  exposed  to  them.  If 

F 


60 


foreigners,  accustomed  to  respect  nothing,  to  abuse  the 
revolver  and  the  bowie  knife,  commit  excesses  and  attacks 
upon  private  persons,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that 
those  persons,  carried  away  by  a  feeling  of  indignation, 
should  repress  and  punish  them  in  their  own  defence,  before 
the  authorities  can  interfere.  The  great  amount  of  pas¬ 
sengers  crossing  the  Isthmus  from  sea  to  sea,  four  times  a 
month,  brings  with  it  some  risk,  according  to  the  moral 
qualities  of  the  passengers :  there  would  be  nothing 
improper  in  the  nations  interested  in  the  transit  giving 
occasional  support  by  means  of  their  vessels  of  war,  to  the 
local  authorities,  when  called  upon,  and  in  the  manner 
desired  by  them. 

The  recent  incidents ,  alluded  to  in  the  Presidential 
Message,  on  being  examined,  can  be  nothing  more  than 
the  electioneering  warmth  of  September  and  October  on 
the  advent  of  the  New  Governor.  The  foreign  consuls 
recommended  on  one  of  the  critical  days,  that  some  men 
should  be  allowed  to  land  from  one  of  the  United  States 
vessels  of  war,  at  anchor  in  the  bay,  which  was  agreed  to, 
and  they  were  posted  at  the  Railway  station  :  but  the 
Governor,  without  at  all  availing  himself  of  their  assistance, 
arrested  the  agitators  or  ringleaders  of  the  hostile  popular 
movement,  made  himself  respected  with  his  own  means, 
and  restoredtranquillity,  which  has  not  since  been  disturbed. 
On  drawing  comparisons,  because  the  matter  calls  for  it, 
although  all  comparisons  are  odious,  the  same  cannot  at  all 
be  said  of  some  sections  of  the  United  States  territory, 
with  regard  to  the  public  safety  of  foreigners,  nor  during 
the  stormy  time  of  elections.  Every  individual  of  the 
Spanish  American  race  existing  in  California,  is  most 
anxious  to  emigrate  from  thence,  because  neither  his  life 
nor  property  are  safe,  and  many  of  them  have  been 
victims  of  the  most  horrible  treatment.  The  electoral 
contest  has  been  marked  in  several  States  of  the  Union 
by  much  violence,  riots,  and  bloodshed.  Without 
multiplying  quotations,  I  will  here  state  what  a  corres- 


61 


pondent  of  the  u  New  York  Herald ”  says  on  the  5th  of 
November,  of  the  Baltimore  votes  of  the  4th  : — 

u  The  city  has  been  the  scene  of  continued  violent 
rioting  during  the  afternoon  and  evening.” 

O  O  O 

“  At  the  Eight  and  Second  Ward  polls  great  excite¬ 
ment,  riot  and  disorder  prevailed.” 

“  A  fierce  engagement  took  place  between  the  Democrats 
of  the  Eighth  and  the  Americans  of  the  Sixth  and  Seventh 
Wards.  Each  party  were  provided  with  muskets  and 
cannon,  and  kept  up  the  fight  for  two  hours.  About  fifty 
were  wounded,  many  of  them  seriously.” 

“In  the  Second  Ward,  the  Democrats  drove  off  the 
Americans,  when  the  Fourth  Ward  Americans  came  to 
the  rescue,  and,  after  a  prolonged  and  fierce  fight,  retook 
the  polls,  driving  off  the  Democrats.  The  fight  lasted 
over  an  hour.  One  man  was  killed,  and  thirty  wounded — 
several  fatally.” 

The  question  of  the  15tli  April  was  notoriously 
complicated,  on  the  one  hand  by  exaggerated  ideas  of 
annexionism,  notwithstanding  the  express  guarantee  of 
the  sovereignty  of  New  Granada  over  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  subscribed  to  by  the  United  States  in  a  solemn 
treaty  ;  and  on  the  other  by  the  secondary  questions  of 
interoceanic  postage  and  the  tonnage  tax,  established  by 
laws  of  the  Republic.  As  the  Congress  will  be  made 
acquainted  with  the  Diplomatic  controversy  on  these 
points  by  the  Finance  Secretary,  to  whose  department 
they  belong,  I  will  only  state  :  that  against  the  demand 
made  for  postage,  the  right  which  citizens  of  the  United 
States  enjoy  to  equal  favors  and  privileges  with  native 
Granadians  has  been  improperly  invoked,  as  New 
Granadian  Citizens  themselves  pay  the  postage:  moreover 
the  postage  tax  has  been  estimated  at  two  millions  of 
dollars,  when  it  cannot  be  above  sixty  thousand,  as  it 
only  affects  letters  and  despatches  and  not  newspapers  : 
and  with  regard  to  tonnage,  the  unconstitutional  and 
therefore  annulled  enactment  of  the  Panama  Legislature 


of  1855  has  been  confounded  with  the  national  law  of  1856 
made  by  the  competent  authority. 

The  old  municipal  tax  upon  passengers,  annulled  by  the 
Supreme  Court,  also  figured  as  one  of  the  many  complaints 
mentioned  in  the  discussion  of  the  said  question.  By 
this  department  a  resolution  was  issued  the  27th  of 
November  and  published  in  the  Gazette  of  the  29th, 
which  must  finally  settle  the  business. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  accredited 
to  ours  a  special  Commissioner  for  the  settlement  of  the 
questions  I  have  referred  to.  If  treated  calmly  and  in 
perfect  good  faith,  their  solution  will  be  prompt  and  satis¬ 
factory.  The  two  Republics  are  called  upon  to  live  in 
close  friendship  from  the  analogy  of  their  essential  consti¬ 
tutive  principles,  and  far  from  there  being  any  antagonism, 
harmony  exists  in  their  present  and  future  interests  :  they 
must  therefore  undoubtedly  understand  each  other. 


/ 


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